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In The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes comments that, “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” When it comes to risk, it’s obvious that companies should want to remove or reduce risk as much as possible. But the process - how you actually carry out the actions to eliminate risk, and how you collaborate to make that risk reduction work across the business - is not obvious. To improve this, we have to look at how we consider risk across the whole organization. This requires a Risk Operations Center, or ROC.

What's in a name?

When CISOs hear the phrase “Risk Operations Center” they invariably ask, “How is a ROC different from a Security Operations Center?” Let’s begin answering this question with a concise definition for what a ROC aims to achieve: A ROC orchestrates risk elimination.

I can hear risk purists objecting, “You can never eliminate risk – only control it!” I have two responses. First, I was being purposefully terse as a means of easing readers into a fuller definition. Second, I suspect objections stem from not completely aligning on terms. Let’s fix that by defining what I mean by risk and elimination.

For the definition of risk I will turn to How To Measure Anything In Cybersecurity Risk: “Risk is a state of uncertainty where some of the possibilities could lead to loss, catastrophe, or some other undesirable outcome.” Here is a thought experiment: If you completely remove your uncertainty, have you eliminated risk?

Imagine I am driving an SUV. I’ve just been told there is a small tunnel ahead. I don’t know what small means in this context. I just know I’m driving a high occupancy vehicle full of children and my spouse. I’m now uncertain if my vehicle will fit. As I approach the tunnel I see a sign overhead that says the tunnel is twenty feet by twenty feet – and I can also clearly see that my SUV will fit. Using “measurement” I just eliminated my state of uncertainty about possible future “loss, catastrophe or some other undesirable outcome.”

Risk measurement moderates our uncertainty. We define risk measurement as, “A quantitatively expressed reduction of uncertainty based on one or more observations.” In the case of tunnel versus SUV, my state of uncertainty was reduced 100%. Unfortunately, in business environments, not all risks are this cut and dry or easy to understand with one fact. This is why we need to clarify what elimination means.

For elimination I’m using its “risk oriented” word origin. In Latin, elimination is “ex limine.” The “ex” means “off or out.” And “limine” is limit or boundary. In short, to eliminate risk is to set a boundary or limit that should not be exceeded. This ties nicely with the concept of a cyber insurance limit and risk tolerance. Indeed, a limit is a mathematically unambiguous and contractually binding expression of business risk tolerance.

With our terms defined I can expand my overly pithy ROC definition to something acceptable even by the most ardent of risk purists: “A ROC continuously orchestrates the remediation, mitigation and or transfer of cybersecurity risk that may exceed business tolerance.”

What differentiates a ROC to a SOC is that the SOC is specifically focused on security alerts and managing responses to issues within the technology stack. A ROC, conversely, takes all that information and provides it to the whole business, including finance and compliance leaders, so the organization can manage and understand risk mitigation in that wider context.

What's a ROC platform?

I have the unique pleasure of engaging with CISOs and their teams around the globe on all things cybersecurity risk management. A growing majority of enterprise level CISOs are attempting to stand up DIY ROCs, because they have to put risk into that wider business context. Perhaps you are one of these CISOs. How might you know?

One of the first tells for this approach is that you are aggregating comprehensive “Risk Data” into a data lake, so you can make sense of that data for risk purposes. This includes a complex approach to handling data so that it can be used, from de-duplicating IT asset records to consuming full-stack vulnerability data and rationalizing disparate scores for those assets over time. This includes integrating multiple threat intelligence feeds and correlating compensating controls for risks that cannot be fixed immediately. Alongside this, you may look at how to use this data to trigger automated mitigation and remediation actions, whether that is through patching or deploying best practice deployment frameworks.

If you answered yes – even in part – then you are likely embarking on your own ROC journey. It’s a non-trivial DIY proposition. Consider that the average enterprise level firm has 76 security tools deployed, according to Panaseer. Getting each stage of this process right with each investment would most likely be out of reach, even for those with outsized budgets.

It is also essential to distinguish risk data from security data, as they should be purposefully thought of differently. I distinguish “risk data” from threat oriented “event data” that materializes in your SOC. SOC event data consists of streams of arrival time stamps with light weight meta-data. Due to its volume and millisecond velocity it’s invariably light on context. Event data is best persistent and modeled via time series data structures and related analysis. This is similar to what is used in real-time trading and network analysis. It’s for specific IT security decision making around threats.

Risk data is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to context. Consider all the rich content and context that you are putting in place around those IT security signals so that other teams can use it, and how it turns into understandable metrics for the board.

At the same time, all this analysis and reporting is usually done in some form of OLAP structure enriched with high context graph connected data. Indeed, graph comprehension is a must as cloud native data and other ephemeral “assets” aren’t IP addressable. The days of first and third party assets always being tied to a machine – and its IP – are fading. It would seem that the only thing the industry can agree on when it comes to assets is that they are probably nouns.

You can still do time series analysis with ROC data. You would do this to baseline metrics and do other forms of change analysis. The event grain for ROC data is not meant to duplicate log aggregation and/or observability solutions that back-end SOC systems create and consume. The ROC - and the data it provides - will carry out sophisticated analysis around potential risks and responses, but that complexity will be hidden from view so that the emphasis is on protecting value and reducing potential loss.

What's different around risk?

The ROC actually sits at the nexus of value and loss exposure. Consider that a successful business is in the business of exposing more value, to more people, through more channels with higher velocities. In other words, businesses want to make more revenue and more profits. You can call this “digital and AI transformation,” but it is a process that every business will go through in the pursuit of growth. At the same time, any new venture or investment increases the potential risk back to the organization. In this sense, successful businesses are risk exposure machines.

The ROC is in the center of risk flowing into and out of your “risk surface” where value flows in and losses flow out. The ROC controls the “loss exposure” portion of that flow. It does that using both sentient and or artificially intelligent means of risk analysis. That analysis in turn automates actions (or enables workflows) for remediation, mitigation and risk transfer. Remediation and mitigation are controlled within the attack surface domain.

Alongside these technology elements, there are other controls that you would implement, like cyber insurance to transfer potential risk response outside the business, which is within the broader risk surface domain. This combination of security measures and cyber insurance for response is where you can take practical, proactive steps as a defender and invest in capabilities for controlling loss.

Are you ready to ROC?

The ROC is not your SOC. They work together but at different levels of your overarching risk surface. The SOC exclusively operates on event data within the attack surface domain. And the ROC? It continuously orchestrates the remediation, mitigation and or transfer of cybersecurity risk that may exceed business tolerance.

The interesting news is that enterprises are already feeling their way towards this concept of the ROC as they try to implement more effective risk controls. The challenge is that implementing a ROC is still at the early stages of development, where DIY approaches are still nascent and partial compared to what companies actually need. Assembling ROC will depend on collaboration between those within companies - CISOs, CFOs and compliance in particular - but also between peers and vendors.

According to the Risk Management Association, cybersecurity risk is the number one issue that companies face in the coming years. The rise of cyber risk quantification continues to help in this process, yet many of these projects will fail because they do not get the right support or deliver effective risk data that the business can use. To overcome this challenge, ROC deployments ensure that risk data can be used to control and respond to risk as part of that wider business approach. Where the SOC should deliver insight for security operations, the ROC should deliver risk operations that cover the whole business.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• Global data consumption is up 15% YoY, 113% in five years, DE-CIX report claims
• 2024 traffic stood at 68 exabytes, a staggering amount of data
• Sporting events and video gaming are responsible

Global data traffic hit a new record of 68 exabytes in 2024, marking a considerable 15% jump from 2023’s 59 exabytes, a report from a major data handler has claimed.

New figures from DE-CIX show overall traffic has more than doubled since 2020, when the pandemic caused millions of workers to be sent home and adopt new hybrid and remote working patterns.

In 2020, global data traffic stood at just 32 exabytes – now, DE-CIX says five years later, we’ve seen 113% growth, as consumption subsequently rose to 38 exabytes in 2021, 48 exabytes in 2022, and 59 exabytes in 2023.

Global data traffic rise

To put it into perspective, 2024’s 68 exabytes of data, exchanged across 3,400 global networks, would equate to a stack of paper 20 times higher than Mount Everest if printed. The same amount of data equates to streaming a high-definition video for two million years continuously.

The company also noted the impact of the UEFA Champions League and video gaming on internet traffic, with 2024 peaking at 24.92 terabits/second on November 20 to coincide with multiple game launches.

Although gaming accounted for the largest share of traffic in 2024, peaking in the third and fourth quarters, video conferencing also saw a post-summer uptick with hybrid working as the 'new normal' despite tech giants’ best efforts to bring people back into the office.

The data comes specifically from DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange operator, which operates 60 locations across Europe, North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The news comes shortly after Cloudflare announced similar findings, claiming global internet traffic rose 17% year-over-year. Its study emphasized Google’s dominance of both the browser and the search markets, while also exploring the prevalence of artificial intelligence and social media.

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• DeepSeek is now the most popular free app in the US and UK Stores
• But the ChatGPT rival appears to be struggling to cope with demand
• The Chinese start-up is experiencing server outages and login issues

DeepSeek is the most popular app in the world right now and the AI chatbot might be struggling to meet demand.

The new ChatGPT competitor created by a Chinese start-up is experiencing service outages and the company's status page claims it is investigating possible causes.

The AI chatbot has gained worldwide acclaim over the last week or so for its incredible reasoning model that's completely free and on par with OpenAI's o1 model. According to the company's status page, there's an issue that is preventing users from signing up and accessing DeepSeek and its DeepThink R1 AI model.

While I've not experienced any issues with the app or website on my iPhone, I did encounter issues on my Pixel 8a when writing a DeepSeek vs ChatGPT comparison earlier today. It appears that creating new accounts is causing DeepSeek issues, often showing errors when a user attempts to send a prompt.

The latest incident appears to be resolved as of 9:32pm Chinese local time (8.32am ET / 1.32pm GMT). But considering the huge influx of users, there could be further issues throughout Monday and the rest of the week.

Teething issues

(Image credit: Future)

DeepSeek has taken the world by storm by offering an AI chatbot that's as good, if not better, than OpenAI's class-leading ChatGPT.

While that's excellent for people looking to get their hands on a free AI with immense capability, it could lead to issues and outages more frequently as the servers struggle to cope with demand.

We'll be monitoring this outage and potential future ones closely, so stay tuned to TechRadar for all your DeepSeek news.

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• One of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's producers has revealed why it has a "unique" release schedule
• Brad Winderbaum says it's because there's "a lot of Marvel content in 2025"
• He's denied that Daredevil: Born Again's forthcoming release is to blame for YFNSM's compressed release format

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's "unique" release schedule isn't a byproduct of Daredevil: Born Again's forthcoming launch, one of its executive producers has said.

Brad Winderbaum, who's also a producer on Daredevil's upcoming standalone series, told TechRadar that the latter isn't to blame for its sibling series' compressed release date format. Instead, Marvel's head of TV and streaming revealed that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's (YFNSM) is simply down to the company's ongoing "experimentation of how episodic shows are released".

Ever since WandaVision, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) show, debuted on Disney Plus, the comic book giant has trialled new ways of delivering its small-screen content to fans. So far, it's tested launching new shows with one-episode or two-episode premieres, and releasing new installments of series on a daily basis, which it did with What If...?'s second and third seasons.

A post shared by Spider-Man (@spiderman)

A photo posted by on

YFNSM's release schedule is another example of that experimentation. Confirmed on Instagram (see above), Spider-Man's latest animated series will arrive in four, multi-episode parts. The Marvel Phase 5 project's first two entries arrive on launch day (January 29), chapters three to five will debut one week later on February 5, episodes six and eight land on February 12, before the final two installments air on February 19.

With Daredevil: Born Again due out on one of the world's best streaming services just two weeks after YFNSM's first season ends, some fans have theorized that Marvel is pushing the latter out of the door early to make room for the highly-anticipated former's arrival. However, Winderbaum suggests that, while YFNSM's multi-episode schedule differs from the studio's traditional release format, this couldn't be further from the truth.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's first season will be released in four parts (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

"I think that you can see with many streamers, including Disney Plus, there is a lot of experimentation going on with how episodic shows are released," he told me. "I'm a big fan of week over week. Part of that [reason] is that anticipation and the other is having to go through the week between [last episode's] cliff hanger to get the payoff. That's the TV show experience, so I like some sort of week over week cadence.

"But, there's a lot of Marvel content [being released] in 2025," he added. "We want to make sure that everything has room to stand on its own feet, so that was the reason to release it [YFNSM] over four weeks instead of ten. It's also a very unique show that has a high school soap opera element to it. You know, it's kind of our version of [Canadian high school series] Degrassi High in a lot of ways and there's a feeling of wanting to see that next step in the character journey, especially when you get into the into the latter two thirds of the of the season You really start to get used to those characters. You want to start seeing them interact and seeing those character setups pay off, so I'm excited for fans to get a different kind of viewing experience."

I'll be covering YFNSM in more detail throughout its first season. For now, find out why its showrunner has defended its divisive animation style in the wake of fierce fan criticism, or get the lowdown on everything we know about Daredevil's TV return by reading my Daredevil: Born Again guide.

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• AMD FSR 4 will supposedly be a ‘drop in’ replacement for FSR 3.1
• In theory, that means all FSR 3.1 games should support the newer tech
• This is just a rumor, though it chimes with hints AMD has already dropped

AMD could have a whole bunch of games lined up for FSR 4 support, its frame rate boosting tech exclusive to incoming RDNA 4 graphics cards, right from the get-go (one of which will be Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, pictured above).

So far, there’s been something of a guessing game as to how FSR 4 support could shake out – especially given that Nvidia has a lot of PC games lined up for its rival DLSS 4 from launch – but this is the best news Team Red fans could’ve hoped for.

The theory is – and it is just a rumor, floated on X by a regular hardware leaker, Kepler – that AMD is just going to replace the existing FSR 3.1 DLL file with the new FSR 4 one.

The RDNA4 driver replaces FSR 3.1 DLL with FSR4January 25, 2025

What that means, as a drop-in replacement, is that FSR 4 will be compatible with all existing FSR 3.1 games, without the game developers needing to do anything. In other words, it’ll ‘just work’ with the existing titles that are covered for FSR 3.1 support.

Or this ‘should’ be the case, as Kepler phrases it, so we must note that they aren’t fully sure on this. As ever with rumors, we should exercise caution around them, but in this case, AMD has already hinted that FSR 3.1 games would get FSR 4 in marketing materials (during the FSR 4 reveal at CES 2025).

As VideoCardz, which noticed the above post, points out, there are in excess of 50 games which currently support FSR 3.1, so should be good to go with FSR 4.

If you’re wondering why that support is based on FSR 3.1, rather than FSR 3, it’s because AMD made the move to include frame generation with the former, so the latter being brought up to FSR 4 would require a lot more work than just dropping in a new DLL file.

(Image credit: Shutterstock) Analysis: Good news, but with that RDNA 4 catch

This is seemingly good news, then, for those looking at buying an RX 9070 graphics card, which will be the first boards to use FSR 4 when these next-gen GPUs are released in March. Indeed, AMD has already said that the reason it’s taking a bit more time with these RDNA 4 graphics cards is to get them right for launch, and perfect the graphics drivers as well as enabling more FSR 4 games.

This sounds like a smart move to me, especially given the rumors around Nvidia’s RTX 5000 range, which currently make it seem like there’s no a big rush to get RX 9070 on sale. I’d like all these next-gen GPUs to be on sale sooner rather than later, ideally, but if I have to wait for a good product, then so be it.

AMD’s FSR 4 sounds like a sizeable stride forward for frame rate boosting from Team Red, but the catch, of course, is that it’s exclusive to RDNA 4. This goes against the grain for FSR in that the tech has previously been open in nature and available for Nvidia RTX GPUs, as well as previous-gen AMD graphics cards (back to the RX 5000 series, technically, albeit not with frame generation).

So, it’s a definite shame to lose that aspect, but that’s seemingly the price Team Red has had to pay for making FSR 4 offer better quality upscaling (and frame generation). Given the constant chatter from gamers about how AMD is behind DLSS in this respect, I’m hardly surprised Team Red made this call, but as we’ve discussed in the past, it’s a compromise which some PC gamers could find difficult to accept.

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• A new menu has been spotted when you drag-and-drop files in Windows 11
• Currently only available in a (very) early version of an upcoming Windows 11 update
• Could it be enough to convince Windows 10 users to upgrade?

Microsoft is struggling to convince some people to upgrade to Windows 11 – but a new feature that’s currently being tested out could make people change their minds.

The feature is known as ‘Drag Tray’, and as Tom’s Hardware points out, it will appear when the user selects and drags a file in File Explorer, offering quick options to send the file via email, or to your smartphone.

The Drag Tray was spotted by X user phantomofearth in an early version of an upcoming Windows 11 update, known as Insider Preview Build 22635.4805.

Microsoft is experimenting with a new file sharing UI in Windows 11: the "Drag Tray". When dragging a file, the tray shows up at the top of the screen with a drag here to share hint and lists a few apps. Has a more options button to open the share sheet. (hidden, Beta 22635.4805) pic.twitter.com/LXpkTwKZu2January 24, 2025

As you can see from the video, dragging a file from File Explorer and dropping it on an icon of an app within the Drag Tray will open up the app and automatically attach the file. It looks pretty slick, and being able to drag and drop a file from your Windows 11 PC to your smartphone could prove to be incredibly helpful.

However, judging by the video, it looks like this feature will work best with Microsoft’s own apps – it uses the Phone Link app to send files to your phone, and either Outlook or Mail to send the file via an email attachment.

This shouldn’t be too surprising, as it’s obviously easier for Microsoft to integrate new features like this with its own apps, but if you use a different email client, such as Thunderbird, then you might not get the best experience. All is not lost, however, as in the video, we can see a ‘More options’ button, which looks like it’ll allow you to choose other apps.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that this is just a short video clip without much context – so we don’t know if you’re able to choose and rearrange the apps that are displayed in the Drag Tray, or if third-party apps appear if you have them installed, and they are simply not in the video as the user only uses Microsoft apps.

When will we get it?

Another important consideration is that this looks like it’s a very early glimpse of the Drag Tray feature, and that means the finished product could look and behave a lot differently from what we see here – and that also means more apps could be supported.

It certainly looks like it could be a very useful addition to Windows 11, and if it works well, it could convince people still using Windows 10 to upgrade to the newer operating system. This is a key aim for Microsoft, as there are still a significant number of Windows 10 users who don’t want to switch, but after October 14, 2025, the company will stop supporting Windows 10 with free updates, and that could leave Windows 10 holdouts in a tricky situation.

Adding cool new features like this to Windows 11 is a much better way to convince people to move to the operating system than some of Microsoft’s more heavy-handed attempts in the past.

However, we don’t currently know when we can expect Drag Tray to arrive. As Tom’s Hardware points out, Microsoft didn’t even mention Drag Tray in its release notes for the update, and it’s currently only found by using a third-party app called ViVeTool.

This suggests that the feature is very early in development, so don’t expect it any time soon. Presumably, Microsoft will continue to work on the feature and release it to Windows Insiders for testing over the coming months, where people who have signed up to be Insiders can test it out and report back if there are any bugs or issues.

Assuming that all goes to plan, then Microsoft could roll out Drag Tray to all Windows 11 users in the future. How long that will take is anyone’s guess, and there’s also the risk that the company doesn’t continue to work on it, and quietly drops the feature altogether.

That would be a shame, as adding new features like this to make Windows 11 easier to use is the best way Microsoft can convince people to upgrade from Windows 10 – and it’ll also benefit those of us who are already using Windows 11.

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• Security researchers find new ad for the sale of a stolen database
• The database belongs to the American National Insurance Company, and was first stolen in 2023
• It contains information belonging to thousands of customers and employees

Sensitive information belonging to thousands of customers and employees of the American National Insurance Company is being sold online after initially being stolen years ago, experts have claimed.

American National Insurance Company (ANICO) is a financial services organization providing a wide range of insurance and financial products, including life insurance, health insurance, property and casualty insurance, annuities, and pension plan services.

In 2023, the company suffered a cyberattack and lost sensitive customer and employee data. Now, almost two years later, the stolen information seems to be surfacing.

Plenty of sensitive information

The team at SafetyDetectives discovered the ad for the sale on a hacking forum, noting the seller was offering a 90MB CSV file, which, judging by a shared screenshot, seems to have been posted on BreachForums, one of the most popular hacking communities out there.

The seller claims the file contains 279,332 lines of sensitive customer and employee data. They also shared a small sample to prove their claims.

The data contains customer account ID numbers, status, email addresses, full names, birth dates, age, gender, marital status, generation, occupation, phone numbers, language, postal address, Inforce Premium amount, Inforce Premium amount annuity, and type of policy.

Employees have also lost information on their years in force, agent names, agent emails, MLGA/RGA names, and MLGA/RGA emails.

“This report issued by data breach lawyers at Console & Associates, P.C probing the 2023 data breach asserts that Social Security Numbers, financial account information and medical information was also exposed,” the researchers said.

“However, our cybersecurity team cannot verify if the data shared in this forum post includes such sensitive information or is linked to the reported breach as the author does not specify the exact source of the data beyond mentioning its presence on the dark web.”

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• Task execution now relies on more endpoints than ever before
• Businesses are struggling to control, manage and sustain AI
• All of this is threatening companies with “digital chaos”

Process automation and orchestration platform provider Camunda has warned that companies could face “digital chaos” if they don’t focus on getting their AI deployment right amid increasingly complex ecosystems.

The number of endpoints businesses rely upon to execute tasks has now risen to 50, up 19% in five years.

Camunda explores the rising complexity across business processes that threatens control, ultimately warning of an “Automation Armageddon.”

Complexity could cause “chaos”

Four in five (82%) now report increased compliance risks as a result of the lack of control brought on by a more complex landscape, with three-quarters (77%) highlighting higher risks of core business process failures.

Camunda SVP for Customer Success Kurt Petersen summarized: “Today’s digital infrastructures and processes are both complex and interdependent, making it a significant challenge.

“In a constantly evolving landscape, organizations often struggle with siloed tools and technologies, which hinder their ability to streamline operations or achieve full visibility.”

The report criticized businesses for using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation to tackle a single task rather than taking a broader, business-wide approach.

It found that 85% face challenges in scaling and operationalizing AI across their businesses, despite 93% acknowledging that AI must be “fully integrated” into their processes in order to maximize their ROI.

Even those who deploy AI across their processes aren’t happy with the results, with four-fifths (79%) lacking a way to control, manage and sustain it effectively.

Petersen concluded: “If organizations are to successfully operationalize AI across their entire business, AI applications, and services must be orchestrated like any other endpoint within automated business processes. This will ensure they remain compliant and maximise the return on investment from their AI investments.”

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• Apple’s smart home hub is reportedly due to launch later this year
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There’s been a lot of speculation over the past few months about Apple’s plans to launch a home hub that combines a display with a speaker and lets you control various smart home devices in the vicinity. According to a new report, it’s on track to launch this year, but there are still some key questions surrounding the product.

The report comes from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who claims that Apple’s device will feature a seven-inch display that resembles a “smaller and cheaper iPad.” It will be used to “control appliances, conduct FaceTime chats, and handle other tasks,” Gurman says.

That might not sound like a groundbreaking new product, and Gurman himself describes it as “essentially a HomePod with a roughly 7-inch screen.” Yet the reporter believes it will also be “Apple’s most significant release of the year” because it will be a step towards the company establishing itself more strongly in the smart home market.

As well as that, Gurman says the device “provides another platform for AI features” and that Apple will follow it up with a more advanced product in a few years’ time. This high-end version will come with a robotic arm that will let the screen follow a user around the room.

What needs to happen

(Image credit: Apple / Future)

It’s encouraging to see Apple making moves in the smart home space, but the company has a lot of work to do in order to make its device competitive against rivals like Google and Amazon. For one thing, Apple needs to tune up its software, including HomeKit, Siri and Apple Intelligence, if it’s going to give users the kinds of experiences they can get from Apple’s competitors.

There’s also a lot of talk that Apple is going to debut a tailor-made operating system called homeOS with the home hub. If that’s true, this new system needs to have an intuitive, user-friendly interface to help people hit the ground running with this unfamiliar software environment. Fortunately, Apple is one of the best in the world at developing intuitive interfaces – now the company just needs to make sure it doesn’t drop the ball.

Thirdly, it’s vital that the home hub launches with a competitive price. Apple’s philosophy is to be the best, and that often leads to it adding premium features that command a high price – just look at how expensive the Vision Pro and the original HomePod were.

But Apple is late to the smart home party, so it needs to ensure it releases something that is genuinely strong without putting people off with an eye-watering price tag. It’s a fine line to tread, but the recently redesigned M4 Mac mini proves that it can be done. Based on the rumors, it seems likely that its price will sit somewhere between a HomePod Mini ($99 / £99 / AU$149, which it itself due to be getting a HomePod mini 2 successor this year) and a base iPad ($449 / £499 / AU$749), but that's quite a big gap.

Will Apple be able to achieve all that with its home hub? That’s a question that we won’t have an answer for until the dust settles. But if any company has the resources to meet that challenge, it’s probably Apple.

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• Apple's Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 have been confirmed for 2025
• The headphones are rumored to get heart rate monitoring technology
• A hidden line of code in iOS 18 allegedly reveals that the Powerbeats Pro 2 can be used in conjunction with gym equipment to measure heart rate

Apple’s Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are reportedly coming soon. The originals were a roaring success and lived on our best workout headphones list for an incredibly long time. Now, not only will the Powerbeats Pro 2 arrive in 2025, but the rumor mill is claiming they’ll be beating Apple’s own AirPods to the punch and cracking in-ear heart rate monitoring.

Spotted by MacRumors, one writer dug into iOS 18’s code and reportedly found that Powerbeats Pro 2 will be able to connect to exercise equipment, like the best treadmills and exercise bikes, harvest heart rate data, and display it in the Health app on your iPhone.

At this stage, it’s unknown how this feature will work when the user is also using an Apple Watch, whether one supersedes the other. The report also doesn’t mention whether the feature can be used without gym equipment and whether the information can be beamed straight from the earbuds to an iPhone without a go-between piece of kit like a treadmill.

In-ear heart rate monitoring isn’t entirely new technology: Polar, makers of the best heart rate monitors, previously collaborated with Sennheiser to create a set of Sennheiser Momentum Sport buds ‘powered by Polar’ with heart rate monitoring tech included.

Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 have been rumored to feature heart rate monitoring, but it looks like Apple will first include the technology in its new Powerbeats headphones before delivering it to the AirPods.

Analysis: Can earbuds really measure your heart rate?

(Image credit: Future / Becca Caddy)

Earbuds might seem like an odd place to pick up your heart rate when compared to the best fitness trackers or even an Apple Watch, which collects information from your wrist.

However, in an exclusive interview with TechRadar, Polar CEO Sander Werring said: “a hearable is actually quite a good place through your ears to measure your heart rate, measure fitness and body temperature.” Just like a watch, this information is collected using tiny pulses of light, used to read the levels of light absorption caused by differences in blood flow.

We’re excited to see what this new technology means for the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 – and the Apple AirPods Pro 3.

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• The first episode of Paradise is streaming on Hulu and Disney Plus earlier than expected
• Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson and James Marsden lead the cast of the exciting new series
• Originally intended to be a three-episode premiere, episodes 2 and 3 will be released on January 28 instead

If you've been eagerly awaiting Hulu and Disney Plus' new series Paradise, then you're in luck because you can now stream the pilot episode after two of the best streaming services decided to do a surprise drop. We initially expected the series to premiere on January 28 but Disney is brightening our Monday with an exciting new episode to sink our teeth into. The episode is now available on Hulu in the US, and Disney Plus in other territories.

Paradise has been on my watchlist since it was first teased, and early critics' reactions place it at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means it could well earn a place on our best Hulu shows and best Disney Plus shows roundups. The streamers have been going hard to promote the show too, as a recent social media clip playfully teased the first episode's drop, mirroring Severance season 2 which has been dominating social media recently promoting the new Apple TV Plus series.

The secret is out! Stream the first episode of Paradise NOW on Hulu and Disney+ before the three-episode premiere on 1/28. pic.twitter.com/9GpVpiLdoPJanuary 27, 2025

What do we know about Hulu's Paradise?

According to the official synopsis: "Paradise is set in a serene, wealthy community inhabited by some of the world’s most prominent individuals. But this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs and a high-stakes investigation unfolds.”

Without giving too much away, episode 1 has a cliffhanger so hopefully the decision to release the pilot early will have fans keen to watch more. A first episode is meant to make a big impression and by the sounds of things, it's definitely done that!

The series was created by This is Us' Dan Fogelman and stars huge names like Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, James Marsden, and Sarah Shahi. It looks like an essential watch if you love a good political thriller like the recent Netflix sensation The Night Agent.

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• United Healthcare data breach affected around 190 million people
• The number initially hovered at around 100 million
• The majority of the victims have been notified already

The number of people affected by the 2024 Change Healthcare cyberattack is almost double the previous estimates, and now sits at approximately 190 million, the company has admitted.

“Change Healthcare has determined the estimated total number of individuals impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack is approximately 190 million,” said Tyler Mason, a spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group.

“The vast majority of those people have already been provided individual or substitute notice. The final number will be confirmed and filed with the Office for Civil Rights at a later date.”

ALPHV and RansomHub

Hackers would usually abuse this data in phishing attacks, business email compromise, wire fraud, and other forms of cyberattack, but so far it hasn’t happened, Mason added.

He said the company was, “not aware of any misuse of individuals’ information as a result of this incident and has not seen electronic medical record databases appear in the data during the analysis.”

In this context, it is worth saying that the company paid the ransom demand to the attackers.

When Change Healthcare suffered a ransomware attack in early 2024, it was believed an affiliate of the ALPHV operation was behind the attack. ALHPV, AKA BlackCat, was a notorious operator that worked on a as-a-service model, sharing the spoils with whomever managed to breach a victim and deploy their code.

However, when an affiliate struck Change Healthcare, and managed to extort it for $22 million, things changed. Instead of sharing the spoils, ALPHV’s operators took it all and disappeared from the face of the earth. The affiliate, which was left holding gigabytes of sensitive data, later rebranded to RansomHub, and became one of the greater threats.

They demanded a second payment, but it is unclear if that ever happened. RansomHub did remove Change Healthcare’s entry from its data leak site, suggesting that the victim firm may have paid it.

Via TechCrunch

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• Changes have been spotted in the Google Sounds app
• Pixel owners will soon be able to take more control over haptics
• The update could arrive alongside the Android 16 update

iPhones currently beat Android devices in the way they let you set specific ringtones and vibrations for specific contacts on your phone – though it seems Google has plans to catch up to some of this functionality on the best Pixel phones.

As spotted by tipster Nail Sadykov (via Android Authority), an upcoming version of the Google Sounds app lets you choose vibrations in the same way you can choose ringtones through the Sound and vibration menu in Settings.

It's not the full contact-specific customization available on iOS, but it's another step closer. There are 12 vibration patterns to choose from for your apps and alerts, including Swoop, Snare, Heartbeat, Swirl, Buzz and Bumps.

Being able to take more control over vibration alerts is certainly a welcome upgrade: it means you can increase or decrease the strength of the buzzes your phone is making, based on your personal preference.

Built-in updates

How the updated options could look (Image credit: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority)

Note that the Google Sounds app is actually built into the Pixel software: it's not something you can download and install separately. You should be able to find it from Settings by tapping Apps > See all apps.

When you select Sounds you should see the version number at the bottom of the screen. The current version at the time of writing is 3.1, while the updates to vibration customizations have been spotted in version 3.2.

Exactly when Google plans to push the upgrade out to phones remains to be seen: with Android 16 now in the beta phase, it's possible that we won't get these options until Android 16 is officially launched in the next few months.

Your options will vary if you're using a non-Pixel device, depending on the features your phone's manufacturer has decided to add in. In the case of Samsung Galaxy phones, for instance, you can make use of Samsung's own Sound Assistant app.

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• AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU reportedly outperforms Nvidia's RTX 4070 laptop GPU
• This is thanks to the Radeon 8060S iGPU, with 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores
• It stems from AMD's marketing, while we await tests from users

While Nvidia is set to dominate the desktop GPU space against AMD and Intel with its new RTX 5000 series GPUs, new claims from Team Red hint at the perpetual underdog potentially putting up a bigger fight in the laptop GPU arena.

As highlighted by Notebookcheck, AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor will reportedly surpass Nvidia's RTX 4070 laptop GPU, thanks to the Radeon 8060S iGPU offering up to 68.1% better performance in games - at least, according to AMD. This chip will utilize 40 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores, and Team Red's marketing materials (pictured below) showcase its performance boosts over the ROG Flow Z13 in several games using the RTX 4070 laptop GPU at native 1080p.

Considering the consistent domination from Team Green over the last few years in both the desktop and laptop GPU regions, this could be significant for AMD if it proves to be legitimate - one of the most notable performance leaps is present in Cyberpunk 2077 (which just received an update for DLSS 4 support), but without using any upscaling. If we want a real idea of how well this new laptop chip will perform against Nvidia’s discrete GPUs, we’ll need to wait for performance results when both DLSS and FSR are active for the respective GPUs.

Since Team Red's new Max+ 395 processor uses RDNA 3.5 architecture rather than RDNA 4, FSR 4 likely won’t be available on laptops that use the APU. As of now, that new upscaling method is exclusive to RDNA 4 GPUs, but that could change as time goes on.

(Image credit: AMD) What does this mean for the future of gaming laptops, or even handhelds?

Since the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU is built primarily for laptops, any discussion of it finding its way to handheld gaming PCs is void for now - what this does mean, however, is that AMD may now finally compete with Nvidia within the gaming laptop space.

With games like Borderlands 3 potentially having a 44 fps difference and Hitman 3 maintaining a 62 fps difference over Team Green's midrange laptop GPU at native 1080p, we could be in for a major performance surprise. As previously mentioned, upscaling tools such as DLSS will play a huge factor in real-world performance differences, especially if the Max+ 395 doesn't have access to FSR 4, while all RTX GPUs will have access to DLSS 4 and the RTX 4070 notably also has access to Nvidia’s Frame Generation tech, which AMD presumably didn’t deign to use for this comparison... no surprises there.

Regardless, it's great for consumers. Even if the RTX 5000 series desktop GPU lineup blows AMD's new RDNA 4 GPUs out of the water - which they probably will - Team Red could have a secret weapon in the form of the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, especially given the sky-high pricing of Nvidia’s new cards. But laptops using AMD's new high-end APU certainly won't be cheap either…

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• An official Samsung blog post seemingly confirms that a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen for the S25 Ultra is on the way
• The new S Pen is not yet listed on any Samsung storefronts
• The stylus will be sold separately to the S25 Ultra itself

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked has been and gone, but we’re still basking in the excitement of having the long-rumored Samsung Galaxy S25, Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra officially revealed.

However, amid news of new upgrades and refreshed designs, we noticed a downgrade for the S25 Ultra that will leave some fans of Samsung’s highest-end flagship feeling puzzled – the loss of Bluetooth support for the S Pen stylus.

But fear not, S Pen fans: a new announcement suggests that Samsung could release a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen for the S25 Ultra after all – but it’ll cost you extra.

A footnote affixed to a recent post on Samsung’s Business Insights blog states “Bluetooth-enabled S Pens sold separately”, which suggests Samsung will soon offer the peripheral at an additional cost.

It’s not yet known whether the new Bluetooth-enabled S Pen will offer any new features, or simply give users access to the remote control and gesture features offered by the S24 Ultra's S Pen.

The S24 Ultra came with a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen that allowed users to make use of various gestures to control the phone remotely; for instance, you could trigger the camera, open apps, and navigate the phone’s UI.

The S Pen in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)

The specs sheets released following Samsung Galaxy Unpacked confirmed that Samsung has axed Bluetooth compatibility from the S Pen included with the S25 Ultra, relegating the stylus to its original purpose as a drawing and writing tool.

Android Authority notes that the remote gestures enabled by the S Pen weren’t very popular, which would have impacted the decision to remove them. It's also possible that Samsung sought to allocate resources towards more marketable features, like an upgraded ultra-wide camera or enlarged display.

Still, some users will surely feel a tinge of disappointment at having to cough up more money to counter this downgrade, especially considering the S25 Ultra’s starting price of $1,299 / £1,249 / $2,149.

We’ve been otherwise impressed with Samsung's newest flagship so far – be sure to check out our hands-on Galaxy S25 Ultra review, as well as our hands-on Galaxy S25 review and hands-on Galaxy S25 Plus review for our first impressions of all three new devices.

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• The alleged customer information of 19 million TalkTalk customers has been discovered online
• However the authenticity of the breach has come into question
• TalkTalk says it is investigating the claims

British broadband and TV giant TalkTalk is investigating a possible data breach after alleged customer information was found for sale on a cybercrime forum.

Reports from The Register have confirmed this breach is suspected to have originated through a third-party vendor, and could affect up to 19 million former and current customers of TalkTalk.

The hacker who posted the data using the handle ‘b0nd’, claims the data contains personally identifiable information (PII), here’s what we know so far.

Another Telco target

The data is said to include PII such as email addresses, full names, IP addresses, phone numbers, and subscriber PINs.

"As part of our regular security monitoring, given our ongoing focus on protecting customers' personal data, we were made aware of unexpected access to, and misuse of, one of our third-party supplier's systems, however, no billing or financial information was stored on this system,” TalkTalk told The Register.

"Our security incident response team is continuing to work with the supplier regarding this matter and protective containment steps were taken immediately.”

However the authenticity of the breach has already been called into question, largely due to the size of the dataset, which contains 18.9 million individual’s data, significantly larger than the firm’s current customer base.

Calculations from The Register estimated that since its inception in 2003, TalkTalk has never amassed as many customers as the dataset claims to contain.

"Our investigations are ongoing, however, we can confirm that the number of potential customers referred to in certain online posts is wholly inaccurate and very significantly overstated," TalkTalk added.

TalkTalk is unfortunately no stranger to data breaches, as it suffered a ‘significant’ cyberattack back in 2015, which led to up to 150,000 of its UK based customers’ data exposed - landing the firm a £400,000 GDPR fine for failing to implement “the most basic cyber security measures,” which allowed hackers to “penetrate its systems with ease.”

It's not the only major telecommunications firm to run into difficulty lately, with up to 9 firms breached by Chinese state actors in a 'major incident' late in 2024.

What to do after a breach

If you think your data may have been compromised in this or any other data breach, there are a few ways you can protect yourself and mitigate any damage.

If your information has been exposed, this leaves you at risk of attackers using your data to commit identity theft, so closely monitoring your bank accounts and credit reports is crucial. Alternatively, checking out our list of best identity theft protections can simplify the process for you.

Without identity theft protection services, if you do notice any suspicious activity on your accounts, you’ll need to call your bank immediately, freeze your credit, change your passwords, and likely file police reports - which can be a rather gruelling process.

Also a concern, are social engineering attacks, most often in the form of sophisticated phishing scams. Once attackers have access to your PII, they can construct scams specifically for you, posing as family members or services that you use regularly.

To protect yourself from these, the key is being vigilant. Ensure to double check the credentials of any emails, texts, or calls you receive - especially ones which are unexpected and require action.

If you’re being offered a deal which is too good to be true or being hit with an emotional plea - be extra cautious in verifying the identity of the sender, and don’t hand your information over to someone you don’t know.

Be extremely careful when clicking links on emails, as this can lead to viruses or malware installed on your device, and can result in further information being taken.

Data breaches are an unfortunate inevitability for anyone with an online presence, so to proactively take steps to protect yourself, making sure you have a strong password is a great way to stay secure. Especially important is making sure you don’t repeat passwords for multiple sites, since this means if one password is exposed in a breach, it's contained to just that one site, protecting the rest of your data.

For security, a great tool is a multi-factor authentication app, which provides an extra layer of safety for any sensitive information. Yes, they can be a bit of a hassle when you’re scrambling for your phone to access the right code, but they're a whole lot more convenient than having your bank details stolen.

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• Marvel Snap is back in the US
• Affected players will be able to receive compensation package
• Everyone else will also receive bonus rewards

Mobile superhero card game Marvel Snap was one of the unexpected casualties of the brief US TikTok ban, becoming inaccessible to users in the US between January 19 and 25. This was due to the fact that its publisher, Nuverse, is a subsidiary of TikTok owner ByteDance.

Thankfully, the game is now back online in the region and the developer Second Dinner has outlined a generous compensation package not only for those affected by the outage but also for all Marvel Snap players.

As explained in a recent X / Twitter post, the studio wants to thank fans for their “dedication, patience, and support” and make good with those who missed out on time-based content.

This is on top of a separate package to “welcome back players, new and old, with some extra goodies”. These will be delivered to in-game inboxes sometime this week.

If you are a US player over collection level 500, you can expect to receive the following:

• 2 Spotlight Keys
• 5000 Season Pass XP
• 4150 Credits
• 6200 Collector’s Tokens
• 1000 Gold
• 5 Gold Conquest Ticket
• 3 Infinite Conquest Ticket
• 4000 Conquest Medals
• 1 Mystery Variant
• 6 Premium Mystery Variants
• 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare)
• 3 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare)
• 155 x5 Random Boosters

If you are a US player under collection level 500, you will get:

• 6 Mystery Series 3 Cards
• 5000 Season Pass XP
• 7150 Credits
• 1000 Gold
• 1 Mystery Variant
• 6 Premium Mystery Variant
• 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare)
• 3 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare)
• 155 x5 Random Boosters

The offering for non-US players is similar, though slightly less generous. Those over collection level 500 will receive:

• 2 Spotlight Key
• 3000 Collector’s Tokens
• 1500 Credits
• 1 Mystery Variant
• 1 Premium Mystery Variant
• 1 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare)
• 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare)
• 155 x3 Random Boosters

If you’re outside the US and under collection level 500, then expect:

• 6 Mystery Series 3 Cards
• 3000 Credits
• 1 Mystery Variant
• 1 Premium Mystery Variant
• 1 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare)
• 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare)
• 155 x3 Random Boosters

These are, frankly, incredibly lavish offerings that will provide a massive boost to players who get them. That said, there are some eligibility requirements to bear in mind here.

To qualify for the US rewards, you will need to have an account that was created in the US or recorded account activity in the US 30 days prior to the outage. If you are a US player who used a VPN to play during the downtime, you will still be able to receive the US rewards.

To be eligible for the rest, you simply need to have an account that was created before Jan 20, 2025, and not qualify for the US offering. It is not possible to receive more than one compensation package.

Interestingly, the message also says that the developer intends to partner with a new publisher and “bring more services in-house” to try and avoid similar issues in the future.

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• Britain lags behind Germany when it comes to "digital health", report claims
• Smaller businesses tend to rank less favorably, Zoho finds
• Those who focus on AI are considered ‘healthier’

Although an increase of nine percentage points has been observed compared with the previous year, still only 28% of UK businesses reported good "digital health" in 2024, new research has claimed.

Moreover, more than one in three reported average digital health (36%), and another third had poor digital health (36%), a report from Zoho found, claiming larger businesses seemed more prepared than smaller businesses.

Zoho revealed 40% of large businesses had good digital health, compared with 27% of medium businesses and just 18% of small businesses. However, while Britain was outpaced by Germany, with an average score of 33%, other European countries like Spain (27%), France (20%) and the Netherlands (19%) lagged way behind.

Small European businesses don’t have great digital health

The report explored the correlation between good digital health and attitudes – it found that businesses with good digital health were more likely to see artificial intelligence as critical (46%) compared with average (24%) and poor (65%) health businesses.

More than half (54%) of the British businesses analyzed plans to invest heavily in artificial intelligence.

However, Britain’s digital transformation is still underway, with one in three operating at least half of their operations digitally and a further one in four running the majority of their operations digitally.

Customer experience, efficiency, and improved employee experience were all highlighted as key focus areas for digitization in the year ahead.

“Good digital health is a critical foundation in order to realize ROI from investment in digital tools and technology," noted Zoho UK Managing Director Sachin Agrawal.

Agrawal added vendors should, “take a long-term view in their relationship with customers” to help them deploy tools, educate users, and drive adoption more effectively, thus increasing their ROI.

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• Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's creator has defended the show's animation style
• Some Marvel fans have criticized how the series looks from a movement viewpoint
• Jeff Tramell says viewers should judge it after watching the whole season, rather than a two-minute trailer

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's showrunner has defended its animation style in the wake of fierce fan criticism.

Speaking to TechRadar ahead of the Marvel show's premiere on January 29, Jeff Tramell implored viewers to "give it a chance" after some fans reacted negatively to how it looks. Tramell, who also acts as the series' head writer and one of its executive producers, wants people to watch all 10 episodes before they comment on the animation techniques that have been used.

Ever since the Disney Plus animated series was first shown exclusively to D23 Expo 2024 members last August, fans have had plenty to say about the choice of animation. In the aftermath of said footage leaking online, threads on r/MarvelStudios, r/SpiderMan, r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers and other Reddit pages were full of comments labeling character movements as "weird", "off-putting", "awful", "rough", and "lazy".

Fans haven't held back over what they think about the show's animation style (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney Plus)

The negativity grew exponentially once the animated show's first trailer – one of six big entertainment stories you might have missed over the 2024 holiday season – was released, too. Once the teaser was revealed in late December 2024, new threads on r/SpiderMan, r/MarvelStudios, r/MarvelStudioSpoilers, and other Reddit pages were similarly packed with people's opinions on its animation. Indeed, from those saying Marvel was "trying too hard" and that the backgrounds look "empty", to even harsher critiques suggesting it looked "ugly" and "dogs**t", fans didn't hold back as they passed judgment on the series' animation style.

For what it's worth, some observers who don't believe the animation is as bad as it looks. Additionally, large swathes of Marvel's global fanbase have reacted positively to the show's art style, which honors the artistry of iconic Spider-Man comic book illustrators Steve Dikto and John Romita Jr. Even so, it seems the majority of viewers have already made up their minds about the Marvel Phase 5 TV show's animation.

See you in class!Stream the two-episode premiere of Marvel Animation’s #YourFriendlyNeighborhoodSpiderMan January 29 only on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/LbC5yH7w1dJanuary 24, 2025

Tramell, though, isn't giving up hope that those dissenters may change their minds once Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man launches on Disney Plus. Indeed, he believes that, once audiences see how the show looks and feels from a full episode standpoint, rather than the trailer's cut-together format, some fans may admit they too quickly and harshly judge its aesthetic.

"We wanted to set the show apart [from other Spider-Man animated shows]," Tramell told me. "Regardless of how you feel about the show, you have to there's nothing that looks like it. There's no Spider-Man that looks like our Spider Man. I think it's important to have one that's ours, and that feels unique [and] very much of its own thing. So, we really wanted to find something that set us apart from everything else, and kind of drives audiences towards us. So if you see our Spider-Man in a line-up, you're like 'that's Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man'.

"I think our style grows on you," he continued. "So, I would say 'give it a chance'. I know there were a lot of initial thoughts about how it looked in the two minute teaser, but I'll also say that teaser is super cut up. Once the show comes out, you'll see those scenes don't play in the way that they play in that trailer. So, just give it a shot, watch it, and let it grow on you. If it doesn't, that's fine, too. I love our look and I think everyone else who gives it a shot will do as well."

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• Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has committed to supporting the Nintendo Switch 2
• He also revealed that he congratulated Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa on the console’s reveal
• This likely means more Xbox franchises coming to Nintendo platforms

Good news multi-platform gamers, it looks like Xbox will go all in on supporting the Nintendo Switch 2. This comes from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who recently spoke on the Gamertag Radio podcast.

Spencer said that he has a “game-first not platform-first” mindset, though quickly clarified that Xbox hardware is still "fundamental to what Xbox is” and here to stay. He added that he isn’t a fan of “trying to gatekeep the games” from other platforms.

He also revealed that he had messaged Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa around the console’s reveal, giving him a “big congrats”. He said that he is a fan of Nintendo’s innovation and will “always applaud the moves that they make” and that he is “really looking forward to supporting them with the games that we have.”

These words shouldn’t come as much surprise, as they coincide with a wider multi-platform push by Xbox. The original Nintendo Switch is already home to a number of Microsoft games, including Minecraft, Ori and the Blind Forest, and its sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps. These were joined by Pentiment and Grounded, after an announcement by Phil Spencer in February 2024 that more games would be coming to other platforms.

As for which games could be coming to Nintendo Switch 2, it’s still up in the air. We know that at least one Call of Duty title is highly likely, as Microsoft committed to bringing the franchise to Nintendo platforms in a legally binding ten-year agreement back in February 2023. Major Xbox franchises such as Halo, Gears of War, and Forza Horizon also seem like obvious choices to make the leap, but we’ll just have to wait and see what Microsoft has in store.

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