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60% AI Failure Rate In Women's Health—Standards Are Coming
The tools women rely on for their most personal health decisions fail 60% of the time. The Women's Health AI Consortium will set the first standard to change that
First-of-its-kind drainage device helps limit heart failure rehospitalizations
This new catheter-based device for lymphatic drainage showed early potential to be a new treatment option for acute decompensated heart failure.
'Speculation' and 'egregious failure': 30 researchers publish scathing critiques of study that questioned date of early human occupation of Monte Verde in Chile
Dozens of scientists have banded together to pen scathing research letters to the journal Science about the publication of a study claiming the 14,500-year-old Monte Verde archaeological site in Chile is much younger than shown.
Alcohol is wreaking havoc on U.S. public health. American society looks the other way
The Deadliest Drug, a new investigative series, shows that the alcohol epidemic is a generational failure of the medical and public health systems, of industry, and of government.
Why joining the family business was James Reed’s hardest decision — and why it paid off
James Reed reflects on the decision that defined his career — taking the risk of joining the family business. The Reed CEO discusses failure, purpose and why standing still is the worst decision of all.
Trump Is in a Trap of His Own Making
The war with Iran has been a moral, political, and strategic failure for the United States.
Government Contracts Insights
For all its controversy, complications, successes, and failures, the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development...
GM's Rare Quadrasteer System For Pickup Trucks Was Innovative (And A Massive Failure)
The Quadrasteer system from GM drew plenty of praise when it debuted, but only lasted a few years. Here's why it never caught on.
Zelda 2 Deserves Better
The 1987 sequel deserves better than a reputation as an impossibly difficult failure of a game
Funding crisis in Argentina sparks new wave of protests
Two years after the country’s research funding collapsed, scientists are demonstrating against the government’s failure to restore previously cut scholarships and increase salaries as required by a 2025 law.
Sony Suffers $765 Million Loss Over Bungie as Marathon Continues to Backslide
Marathon's failure to deliver has had a massive impact on Sony and Bungie, with a $765 million impairment loss being recorded.
ASU graduate steps into leadership role in sports psychology field
For Jake Land, sports psychology is more than a degree, it is a calling shaped by years of athletic experience, curiosity about the mind and a deep belief that failure can be one of the most powerful tools for growth.
Researcher explores the hidden science of pipe failure
How do aging cast iron pipes actually start leaking? The School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering's Edward John is the highlight in a new UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) video looking ...
First patient enrolled in massive heart failure trial
Data from BENEFIT-HF, a new randomized study of CVRx's implantable Barostim device, could open up access to many more heart failure patients.
The Cost of Gutting Science Is Invisible Yet Enormous
Intelligence agencies often complain that they are judged unfairly because you hear about their failures, not their successes. It’s hard to evaluate anything based on what didn’t happen — even when that’s really the important thing. The problem is just as salient for those trying to create a better future as trying to avert a worse one. When it comes to research, we can see technologies and industries that exist. We can’t see the ones that were never invented because the science that should have
Banks have a unique business model; they can still fail at it
Community Bank & Trust in Georgia, the second bank failure this year, shows what happens when bankers don't keep things simple.
Changing the System to Support Maternal Mental Health
In the Greater Washington region, infant and maternal health is in peril. Black women make up about half of all births in DC but account for 90% of pregnancy-related deaths. This crisis is fueled in part by the structural failure to prioritize maternal mental health. Until policy and practice reflect this truth, outcomes will continue
Heart Failure Couldn’t Stop This Couple from Saying ‘I do’ in the ICU
Daniel Phan was in heart failure and days from undergoing lifesaving surgery when he and his girlfriend, Julia, decided to get married — in the ICU.
Inter set to sign Manuel Akanji permanently from Man City
Serie A side Inter have come just a bit closer to winning the title after Napoli’s failure to beat Como. Their match towards silverware is also just a confirmation that Manuel Akanji will join them ...
Windows 11's April update is now breaking third-party backup apps
Windows 11 update KB5083769 is causing software failures with several backup programs. Microsoft hasn't released a fix yet.
Analysis | What Janet Mills’s failure to launch tells us about this political moment
The Washington Post’s essential guide to power and influence in D.C.
U.S. Meddling in European Domestic Politics Is Backfiring
Hungary’s April election was the clearest test—and failure—of Trump’s Europe strategy.
April KB5083769 Windows 11 update causes backup software failures
The April 2026 KB5083769 security update breaks third-party backup applications from multiple vendors on systems running Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2.
Protecting the Health of Black Children
Failure to understand the history of vaccine-preventable diseases risks dooming US children to again suffer needlessly from preventable infections
Cole Allen case reveals Secret Service failures that could have led to tragedy
New details about alleged gunman Cole Allen's dash into the White House correspondents' dinner while President Trump and other Cabinet officials were in attendance has raised hard questions for the U.S. Secret Service.
The rise and fall of Hungary’s Viktor Orban: A lesson for all Christians about putting your hope in politics
The recent electoral defeat of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, seen by many as a repudiation of his illiberal politics, offers a caution not only to those who had confidently predicted the failure of liberalism but also to those who celebrate its staying power.
Kettering Health restructures its post-implant heart failure care with new EHR integration
The Epic-connected platform, which monitors CardioMEMS implants, has gained the Ohio health system big efficiencies, such as a 77% reduction in time spent by clinicians on post-implant activities.
Rep. Dan Goldman on WHCD shooting: ‘This was a real security failure’
Microsoft says Outlook.com outage is causing sign‑in failures
Microsoft is investigating an ongoing Outlook.com outage that is causing intermittent signing issues and preventing customers from accessing their mailboxes.
Tim Cook admits his biggest mistake and proudest moment as Apple CEO
The outgoing Apple CEO shared his thoughts on his best moments and one major failure.
Apple Maps was Tim Cook's biggest mistake
Speaking to employees, outgoing CEO Tim Cook talked about his time leading Apple, citing both the successes he is most proud of, and admitting to the one main failure.
No one can look Starmer in the eye … and the Mandy saga is not going away
The PM’s failure was being a spectator as Morgan McSweeney set about finding jobs for his mates
Anti-tech violence is a response to political failure
The original Luddites were locked out of politics. Today’s activists aren't.
Allied Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. Receives Nasdaq Deficiency Letter for Late 10-K Filing
Allied Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. received a Nasdaq deficiency letter due to delayed filing of its annual report.Quiver AI SummaryAllied Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. (AGAE) announced on April 21, 2026, that it received a deficiency letter from Nasdaq due to its failure to file the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025, by the March 31, 2026 deadline. Despite this notification, there is currently no immediate im
Shaky political science: using "simulated" elections over real-world elections
[Dear DSOS readers – this article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in early December, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting. We found that many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data, and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first three articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report, the second one analyzing a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report, and a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research]. In this fourth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we shine a spotlight on seven studies that were web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group (the ERRG is an ad hoc committee headed by New America’s Political Reform Program and joined by the American Enterprise Institute, the Unite America Institute and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law). This research consortium has been led by Lee Drutman, senior fellow with New America’s Political Reform Program. These seven studies are simply not credible from any objective standard about how political “science” is supposed to illuminate our understanding of either ranked choice voting or politics in general. The feature that six of these seven studies have in common is that they all used surveys – artificial, simulated elections -- to attempt to say something cogent or interesting about ranked choice voting (RCV) elections. None of them used real world data from actual RCV elections – either the 1000+ elections in the US or the many thousands of elections from places like Australia, Ireland and elsewhere where RCV has been used for 100 years. While a few of these studies conclude with some mixed positives about RCV, our analysis here is content neutral. The idea that, with a political reform like RCV, you can ask respondents in a mock, artificial election to vote with that method, with only the barest of explanation about how RCV works or its likely impacts (i.e. no spoiler candidates, majority winners, voters liberated to pick their favorite candidates, coalition-building), and then ask them their thoughts/reactions about voting in that system, with fake candidates and no real campaigning, no real exposure to an actual election or actual candidates, rests on some very puzzling assumptions. The findings of these seven studies actually are contradicted by the findings from many other studies based on real-world RCV elections. These New America studies also failed to list the real-world RCV studies in their own citations, instead including those studies that reinforced their conclusions. The seven studies featured in this article were chosen because they form a cohesive cohort which precisely illustrates one of the main points of our research paper, namely that using surveys, i.e. artificial elections, or mathematical/theoretical models, instead of real-world data, is in fact “shaky political science.” Below are summaries of our analysis of five of the seven New America studies. You can read our complete analysis of all seven studies at our paper, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting.” Choosing to “Vote As Usual” by Andre Blais, Carolina Plescia, and Semra Sevi. New America. (Blais et al., 2021). This study, web-hosted and funded by New America’s Political Reform Program and its Electoral Reform Research Group, used two surveys in which respondents completed ballots for simulated elections using plurality, approval, RCV and point (Score) voting. In both cases the authors provided the respondents with only minimal explanation of each method. For example, the entire explanation for RCV was “For this vote, rank the candidates from your first to your last choice (you do not need to rank them all). This is called the ranked vote.” That’s it. The study did not provide any context or explanation to survey respondents about why she/he might want to rank multiple candidates. Participants were not even told that ballots would be tabulated using an “instant” runoff, not to mention any description of RCVs ability to eliminate the spoiler effect or liberate voters to rank their favorite candidates without fear of helping the “greater evil” candidate to win. That’s like taking an iPhone back in time to 1970 and asking someone if they like it better than their rotary phone without explaining how it works. Their first survey targeted states that held 2020 Super Tuesday Democratic primaries and used the real candidates’ names in the survey; the second survey used fictitious candidates. In other words, they surveyed respondents who had only ever participated in plurality elections, had no history or background with using RCV or any of the other methods, had no clue about its likely impacts, and did not communicate how the alternative methods would be counted, and then asked them: “How satisfied are you with using each system?” Predictably, the winner was plurality elections, the system used for president, Congress, gubernatorial and state legislative elections – in other words, the method they have been using, year after year, all their voting lives. With so little explanation of RCV and its impacts, this study is simply not credible in discovering anything useful about real-world RCV elections. It merely shows that a basic voter education campaign is needed when adopting a new election system. Additionally, the result contradicts many other post-election surveys following real RCV elections, asking opinions from voters who had just participated in a RCV election, that showed a great deal of satisfaction with RCV (see details on that in Studies 22-25 in our paper, as well as the four studies cited in the review for Study 28). Share Other studies on “satisfaction” and “understanding” make similar mistakes, in terms of basing their surveys on inadequate explanation to respondents and lack of education about context. How could any survey ever hope to measure accurately, in essence simulate a real-world election, without actual campaigning candidates, the media writing about those candidates, organizations endorsing candidates and voters being inundated with crucial information? More than anything, what these “studies” based on surveys show is that if you ask voters about something they don’t know very much about, and fail to adequately educate them, their responses will unsurprisingly reflect their confusion. Equally puzzling is that New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group, headed by political scientist Lee Drutman, found this to be a credible enough study that they not only published it but highlighted it in Drutman’s own discussion of research related to ranked choice voting. This pattern was repeated in study after study featured by New America’s Electoral Reform Research Group. For example in Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: Voter Guides Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens by Cheryl Boudreau, Jonathan Colner, and Scott MacKenzie, the researchers based their analysis on a survey which found that respondents who were asked to vote in a simulated RCV election, with minimal explanation of RCV or how it works, displayed less evidence of being informed about how to use RCV effectively, with the least informed voters ranking fewer candidates. As pointed out under the study above, in a real election voters are informed by a wide variety of methods, including public education by the election administration, by interested political groups, the media, and the candidates themselves who benefit from voters being aware of how to vote in the new system. In Support for Ranked-Choice Voting across Race and Partisanship by Joseph Anthony, David C. Kimball, Jack Santucci and Jamil Scott, the researchers used respondents from different parties and races voting in simulated plurality and RCV elections, who indicated their satisfaction with each voting method. Instead of using real world election results, the authors fell back on the easy, armchair and less reliable academic research methodology of making up mock elections. As with the other studies, little explanation was given of how RCV works or what its implications might be (electing majority winners or eliminating spoilers, for example). Unsurprisingly, this study found that respondents were not very satisfied with RCV. However, when the authors added an explanation that RCV has a tendency to elect more women and people of color, they found that this greater explanation increased the preference for RCV. The more voters were familiar with it, and the more they understood potential positive impacts – surprise! -- the more they were open to switching away from the status quo. Of note, the results from this study are thoroughly contradicted by a number of other studies whose data was obtained from real RCV elections with real voters. Those studies show a great deal of satisfaction with RCV. More “fake election” research An interesting wrinkle on this “research by fake elections” approach, which only served to illustrate how unreliable such “research” can become, was taken in Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States by Joseph Cerrone and Cynthia McClintock_,_ also web-hosted and funded by New America’s ERRG. It gets high marks for creativity, but an eye-roll for thinking this could possibly add anything meaningful to our understanding of real world RCV elections. This study tried to determine whether RCV, plurality or two-round runoff elections provided greater voter satisfaction and acceptance of election results. To determine that, the authors conducted a survey asking if voters were satisfied with a fictional newspaper report of an election, with three different versions given to respondents – plurality, runoff and RCV, with variations of Republican/Democrat winners and variations of “come-from-behind” winners,” i.e. candidates not initially in first place but who win the “runoff.” Again, a minimal explanation of RCV or how it works was given, and the survey showed that respondents had the greatest unfamiliarity with RCV than the other methods. The unsurprising result? Respondents were much more satisfied with “come-from-behind” victories in a traditional two-round runoff election than in RCV, even though RCV is also a runoff system but with a single round of counting. Interestingly, the dissatisfaction with RCV disappeared for those who were more familiar with RCV. In fact, among those respondents who were “very familiar” with RCV, they were equally satisfied with RCV, runoff and plurality. Surprise, surprise. Again, what this study revealed, more than anything, is not only the inadequacy of the explanation for RCV given by the authors of this study, but the failure of the research format itself, thinking that such an artificial mock election could somehow simulate what actually happens in the real world in a real RCV election. Those four studies reviewed above are fitting examples of inadequate and shaky political “science.” Other studies reviewed in our paper from the New America/Electoral Reform Research Group cohort which also used mock elections included: Ranked-Choice Voting is an Acquired Taste by Joseph Anthony and David C. Kimball. New America. (Anthony et al., 2021). Ranked-Choice Voting is No Refuge for Extreme Candidates by Melissa Baker. New America. (Baker, 2021). Also included in this New America cohort is Does Ranked-Choice Voting Reduce Racial Polarization? by Yuki Atsusaka and Theodore Landsman, which actually did use real-world election results data but applied an odd and unconventional methodology to the data which relied on shaky assumptions and non-real-world scenarios that were too divorced from reality. To determine levels of “racially polarized voting,” the researchers imagined “ethnic parties,” by which they mean political parties for each ethnic group, which was especially odd since the election data they were using came from nonpartisan RCV races. But then they made an even odder assumption, namely that since race and ethnic characteristics of studied voters were not available, the authors tried to infer that information based on who voters selected and the racial make-up of voters in each district. This amounted to little more than vague and ambiguous guesswork dressed up with a bunch of mathematical equations used to give it a veneer of scientific appearance. Indeed, it seemed to assume racial polarization in order to prove racial polarization. Based on this questionable methodology, the authors concluded that RCV doesn’t reduce racial polarization. But the premise of this study missed an obvious reality: since RCV incentivizes more candidates to run and can result in more diverse fields of candidates, one would expect more racially-polarized voting in voters’ top rankings, not less, because more voters would have someone on that ballot who represents their racial or ethnic identity and more freedom to vote for their real first choice. By encouraging more diverse candidates and eliminating the spoiler effect, RCV facilitates voting for a favorite candidate of your own race and then selecting a second choice with the best likelihood of winning. The real measure is what voters do with their additional rankings – do they consider other candidates and vote “for the best of the rest”? This study didn’t tell us anything useful about that. But readily available data shows this is common in real RCV elections, and candidates act on this knowledge by engaging with voters outside their racial group. So the authors of this study failed to consider or account for what actually happens in real-world elections, and their conclusions are tainted by this failure. New America has contributed a great deal over the past 2.5 decades to our understanding of many policy areas, including politics and political reform (full disclosure: Steven Hill, one of the authors of this article and of the “Shaky Political Science” research paper and series, is a former senior fellow and former director of New America’s political reform program, 2005-2010). So it was especially disappointing that New America funded and published such a large batch of dubious studies about ranked choice voting. The stated praiseworthy goal of its Electoral Reform Research Group was to inspire new academic research about ranked choice voting that would shed light and help the public better understand the impacts of RCV. Instead, the ERRG research did just the opposite. It produced dubious research that created more confusion and misinformation. In so doing, New America’s political reform program contributed to “shaky political science.” Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS, a reader-supported digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
How Pa.'s falling school vaccination rates and enforcement failures put thousands of children at risk
A six-month Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation found that school leaders have allowed thousands of children into schools without all the required vaccines even though they had no special exemptions that let them forgo the shots on religious or philosophical grounds — a violation of state vaccine laws.
Opinion: Systemic failures in New Mexico health care oversight extend beyond Mark Erasmus case
A local attorney says one disgraced surgeon is a symptom of deeper corporate and oversight failures in New Mexico health care.
Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears
The president’s impulsive style has never been tested in a sustained military conflict, and he’s been ruminating on Jimmy Carter’s failure in Iran.
Failure of communication is a problem in today’s politics [column]
“I came to see if words are still an effective method of communication,” Japanese writer and political activist Yukio Mishima said during a famous political debate at the University of
‘Pure shock’: how ministers reacted to revelation of Mandelson vetting failure
Inquiries into who knew what, and when, will be pored over in coming weeks and could ultimately decide Starmer’s fate
NSWCPD Applies AI and Machine Learning to Predictive Machinery Health
In a soundproof chamber at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD), a steel-gray air compressor hums as engineers test an experimental machine learning model designed to detect early signs of failure through vibration analysis. The effort, part of NSWCPD’s growing portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) projects, shows early promise for potential future Navy use.
Florentino Perez: Real Madrid's Season, 'A True Disappointment For Everyone'
Florentino Perez delivered a scathing assessment of Real Madrid's dressing room in Munich to label the club's trophy drought as an "intolerable failure".
Restaurant Roundup: Local pub unaware of health inspection failure, ice cream empire dominates high score list
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - A local pub manager wasn’t aware they failed their recent routine health inspection until we showed up. Meanwhile, a
How low should blood pressure go? Science has the answer
New research suggests that aiming for a lower blood pressure target may deliver bigger heart health benefits than previously thought. Using large datasets and simulation models, scientists found that keeping systolic blood pressure below 120 mm Hg could reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure more than higher targets.
The Guardian view on social science research: embracing uncertainty
Editorial: Science rarely produces identical outcomes. Mistaking this for failure turns caution into an excuse for inaction
Chicago mall could be shut down due to ‘imminent' health, safety risks, city says
The city said the building's problems could lead to "creation of a sinkhole and catastrophic structural failure."
JD Vance Seems to Ruin Everything He Touches
Does the vice president really think he has a shot in 2028, despite his consistent failures?
STUDY: Tennessee has second-highest failure rate for businesses in their first year
It’s not easy to keep a business going in Tennessee, according to a new study from LendingTree.
The Science of Strength: New Study Casts Doubt on Training to Failure
New research shows going all out may limit strength gains. Here’s the smarter way to build strength and muscle
Trump’s strait blockade risks another serious blow to the global economy
The failure of US-Iran peace talks leaves President Donald Trump with a set of unattractive options that are unlikely to hand him a decisive or swift victory.
STUDY: Tennessee has second-highest failure rate for businesses in their first year
It’s not easy to keep a business going in Tennessee, according to a new study from LendingTree.
Trump announces blockade of Hormuz
President Trump has reacted to the failure of US-Iran peace talks by announcing a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Yankees news: Boone angry with ABS failures
Yanks worst in baseball at challenges; bottom of lineup a Problem; farewell to Winquest; RIP to an old-timer.
No peace deal after US-Iran talks in Pakistan
Each side blamed the other for the failure of the 21-hour-long negotiations.
‘What Is Failing Again: Jalyx Hunt Talks Perseverance, Mental Health at Last Lecture
Jalyx Hunt, Philadelphia Eagles outside linebacker and Super Bowl Champion, delivered this year’s Last Lecture focusing on resilience, failure and mental health on Friday afternoon.
DC leads the nation in first-year business failures
Washington, D.C. is the toughest place in the country to launch a new business right now. One in three businesses will fail in the first year, according to a new survey from Lending Tree.
Businesses discuss winter water failures with Ofwat
Businesses meet the water regulator as a compensation fund opens following a water plant failure.
Maine GOP candidate for governor drops
The report cited “missing or unsigned documentation, failure to provide proof that some contributors were registered to vote, signatures on paperwork that do not appear to be authentic.”
Apple’s iPhone Fold dummies look horrible in these leaked photos
Apple’s first foldable iPhone may turn into another painful failure for the company.
Peoria double homicide highlights mental health system failures, advocates say
Prosecutors say Jonathan Turk’s parents tried multiple times to get him mental health treatment before their deaths.
Lots of Social Science Won’t Replicate. Does That Mean It’s Bunk?
Scholars are debating the results of an effort to assess hundreds of papers’ credibility. Where some see failure and cause for urgent reform, others see reason for hope.
Ferguson’s failure to fill WA campaign oversight panel spurs recall bid
Two of the commission’s five seats have been vacant for months. Leaving them open for that long violates state law, according to the recall petition.
Is The Tesla Diner A Flop? (Review)
It’s cool to hate the Tesla Diner. Not because it’s a failure (it’s not) but because Elon Musk is associated with it.
Truckloads of food are being wasted because computers won’t approve them
Modern food systems may look stable on the surface, but they are increasingly dependent on digital systems that can quietly become a major point of failure. Today, food must be “recognized” by databases and automated platforms to be transported, sold, or even released, meaning that if systems go down, food can effectively become unusable—even when it’s physically available.
Democrats see Georgia's failure to curb data centers as an electoral gift
Georgia lawmakers have ended their legislative session without addressing concerns over data centers
A brief history of international sports’ biggest underperformers
In the wake of Italy's failure to make a third soccer World Cup, our writers detail the biggest international underperformers in sports
Georgia Lawmakers End Annual Session Without Settling Conflict on Voting Machines
ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia General Assembly ended its annual session early Friday without a plan for new equipment to overhaul the state's voting system by a July deadline, plunging into doubt the future of elections in the political battleground. The lawmakers' failure to offer a solution after ...
OMRON Healthcare and UCSF Launch AFib Trial
Study Will Explore Early Detection of Atrial Fibrillation to Reduce Stroke and Heart Failure Risk Through Home Blood Pressure Monitoring KYOTO, JAPAN - April 3, 2026 (NEWMEDIAWIRE) - OMRON Healthcare Co., Ltd. today announced the launch of a randomiz...
Gattuso will step down as Italy national team head coach
Multiple outlets are reporting that Gennaro Gattuso will step down from his position as head coach of the Italy national team and that Gianluigi Buffon will also depart following the failure to reach ...
Italian soccer is in a nightmare that it can’t wake up from after 3rd consecutive World Cup failure
After letting the final Bosnian penalty slip under his reach on Tuesday, Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma remained on his knees, lifting his hands to his head in utter disbelief.
How polling failures, gambling legalization and political gridlock paved the way for the explosive rise of prediction markets
While media outlets are signing deals with Polymarket and Kalshi for their insights into the wisdom of crowds, gamblers are pouncing on opportunities to wager on geopolitics and celebrity weddings.
His Income Fell 80 Percent Last Year. This Solopreneur Says ChatGPT Kept His Business Alive
Michael Wall turned the LLM into his "first hire" and saved his company from failure.
Elon Musk's X gets case against advertisers tossed by court
A US District Court judge dismissed X's case against big advertisers like Mars and Lego, citing lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.
Small Daily Habits Can Add Up To Better Heart Health
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, March 26, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Even small improvements to your daily habits – a few minutes more sleep, a couple extra minutes of exercise, a daily side serving of veggies – can lower your risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, a new study ...
Italy ‘can’t afford’ another World Cup failure, economically too
La Gazzetta dello Sport examines the figures behind Italy’s possible qualification for the World Cup, arguing that the Azzurri literally can’t afford another play-off elimination.Gennaro Gattuso��...
Hurd joins Colorado Dems in urging authorization of Small Business Development Center funding
A group of six members of Colorado’s delegation in U.S. Congress wrote a joint letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) over its failure to provide prompt spend authority for
Capital & Main Wins Five Best in Business Awards from SABEW
An investigation into California’s failure to protect underage farmworkers was among the five entries that won awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Marathon has sold 1.2M copies across Steam, PS5, and Xbox
Alinea Analytics estimates show that Marathon has generated gross revenues of $55M via 1.2M copies sold on Steam, PS5, and Xbox: Looking at the split between Steam, PS5, and Xbox, Steam is clearly the main platform for Marathon, accounting for a little under 70% of the audience (800K copies sold). Meanwhile, PS5 takes about 19% (217K) and Xbox (including console, PC, and cloud) accounts for a bit over 11% or 133K. Marathon is technically a first-party Sony title, so seeing the home console struggle to break 20% of the volume is a notable data point for the ongoing platform-agnostic debate. PlayStation Studios online games will almost certainly continue being multiplatform (despite Sony reportedly pulling back on PC releases). Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe As for Marathon, the consensus among hardcore players who pushed through the awkward onboarding phase – myself included – is that it’s fantastic. The gunplay, aesthetic, and presentation are among the best in the shooter genre. A great game doesn’t always equal an immediate hit, though, as shown by our estimates. Things are looking lukewarm right now. But this might be one of those marathon-not-a-sprint situations. Had to, didn’t I? Why wasn’t Marathon a hit on the same level as Arc Raiders? One topic that came up in a lot of conversations at GDC this year was why Marathon hasn’t hit the same stratosphere as Arc Raiders. On paper, they’re both extraction shooters, and Marathon has the Bungie pedigree – the house that built the gold standard for gunplay in Halo and Destiny. Marathon’s neon-futuristic aesthetic also distinguishes itself from the gritty realism of Tarkov or the post-apocalyptic hope of ARC Raiders. But vibes can only get you so far for first impressions if the onboarding feels like a brick wall. Marathon is a sweaty PvP-focused experience with a first-time user experience and UI that I can only describe as dreadful. Players are dropped into a complex ecosystem where the UI, though visually striking, is functionally uninformative, forcing users to manually hover over nondescript, identical icons just to identify basic gear or weapon mods. This lack of clarity is compounded by punishing mechanics like a severe heat gauge for movement and a scarcity of vital resources, all without a clear tutorial or a low-stakes mode to learn the ropes. Most people – even top streamers and veteran shooter players – have no idea what’s going on in Marathon at first. Arc is on the complete other end of the spectrum. As we covered here and here, Arc Raiders offers a more collaborative, approachable loop where players often work together toward shared goals. And the objectives are instantly clear. To many players, this contrast only emphasised Marathon’s issues, especially during the testing period. Players understand the Arc Raiders loop within 30 minutes, while Marathon acts as a massive filter, chewing up newcomers and spitting them out before they can experience the depth of Bungie’s signature gunplay. What I’m getting at here is that the poor first-time user experience of Marathon’s Server Slam likely stifled launch sales, while the opposite was true for Arc. Let’s look at the pre-launch copies sold for each game during their respective Server Slams (launch-aligned) : Looking at the trajectory: Arc Raiders saw a massive 80% jump in copies sold during its three-day Server Slam (day -13 to -11). Players jumped in, realised the water was fine, and immediately opened their wallets. Marathon, meanwhile, saw a 49% increase in the four days following its Slam (Day -7 to -3). At the time of each game’s respective launch, Arc Raiders had nearly double the Steam footprint of Marathon – and word of mouth only continued to grow. Bungie could have had more time to fix the onboarding process had the beta happened earlier. But Marathon launched three days after the beta finished. These factors limited the launch sales quite a bit, I reckon. Marathon has found a niche audience, though Despite the friction-heavy start, the data suggests that those who survived Marathon’s onboarding are loving life. We’ve been tracking cross-platform DAUs, and while there’s the expected post-launch leakage, many players are sticking with it. After peaking at 478K total DAUs on its first Saturday, Marathon has settled into a respectable rhythm, holding 345K DAUs as of yesterday and averaging 380K DAUs across the weekend. Steam continues to do the heavy lifting here, consistently accounting for the lion’s share of the daily players. Players have been putting in the hours, too: On Steam, Marathon’s average playtime has climbed to 27.8 hours, significantly outpacing the console averages on PS5 (16.5h) and Xbox (17.3h). Even more telling than the averages: 22% of the Steam audience has surged past the 50-hour mark, and nearly 7% have already logged over 100 hours. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe This data suggests that once the Bungie magic clicks, it hooks players deeper than the average extraction shooter. There’s also started to be a shift in the game’s discourse. Marathon launched as one of those games that’s cool to hate. But as Marathon’s 100-hour club grows, we’re seeing conversations around its mechanical merit outweigh the negativity. Several high-profile creators, who were initially vocal critics, have spent the last week coming around on the mechanical depth of the endgame. It’s a subtle but positive signal; the hate train is losing steam, and a new narrative about the game is emerging. Bungie faithfuls unite Another interesting metric in Marathon’s first few weeks is who, exactly, is playing. Bungie leans heavily on its prestige as the “makers of Halo and Destiny,” in its marketing, and that message has clearly hit the mark. On Steam, the gravity (hammer) of Bungie’s previous work is unavoidable. A staggering 78.2% of Marathon players also played Destiny 2. The trend carries across other platforms, with 74.2% of PS5 players and 82.7% of Xbox players also having played Destiny 2. The Halo legacy lives on, it seems. More on that in a bit. While Destiny 2 went free to play, these numbers still represent a high-intent migration of a fanbase that trusts Bungie’s specific brand of kinetic gunplay and cryptic world-building. The Xbox data adds another layer of legacy. About 85.7% of Marathon players on Xbox have played Halo Infinite, while over half of the Steam audience has spent time in Halo Infinite and 36.1% in the Master Chief Collection (a paid collection of the old Bungie-made legacy games). Interestingly, we see a 55.9% overlap with ARC Raiders on Steam. Overlap is even higher there on PlayStation (60.5%) and Xbox (66.5%). And there’s also significant crossover with Helldivers 2 on all platforms, too. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe Bungie has found some of its fans with Marathon, and the challenge now is keeping this engaged in a high-stakes PvP environment when they’ve spent the last decade primarily enjoying the power fantasies of PvE. On that note… Go the full 26 miles? Or cut and run? Time for some could’ve, should’ve, would’ve. These things would have improved Marathon’s performance at launch: A more robust onboarding process, perhaps in the form of a short single-player/PvE campaign. We know Bungie fans love this stuff. A traditional arena-based mode akin to Destiny’s Crucible could have been a bridge for the cautious players who’d have been otherwise deterred by the Server Slam. It’s also a great palate cleanser after getting merked. Introducing a dedicated PvE environment would have similarly diversified the conversation and lowered the barrier for the Bungie faithful who found the pure PvP extraction loop too abrasive. PvE is safer than PvP these days. There’s an argument that a thin PvE mode would have just felt like a budget Destiny, potentially hurting the brand more. But given how dire the FTUE is, I think it would have been a net positive. Any kind of tutorialised loop that demystifies the stakes, really. While there is merit in a studio sticking firmly to a singular creative vision, and going all in on the hardcore extraction loop. Less forgiving is the technical reality is that the user interface and first-time user experience (FTUE) were not at a commercial standard for launch. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe In a landscape where player time is oversaturated and the most contested currency, a flawed FTUE is a critical failure point. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as Marathon has an incredible, unique gameplay loop, suggesting that financial success is still attainable if Bungie can pivot effectively. Bungie and PlayStation now face a difficult strategic crossroads, though – one within a challenging games market. They could: Double down on Marathon with a long-term Rainbow Six Siege- or No Man’s Sky-style recovery plan, which is something I heard Last Stand Media’s Chris Maldonado mention last week. While this could be a sunk-cost fallacy in action, it could eventually yield the audience the game’s mechanical depth deserves. Shift focus toward the inevitable Destiny 3 or another project, mitigating the escalating opportunity cost and cutting their losses, so to speak. Doing both is an expensive proposition, given the high overhead and burn rate of operating out of Bellevue, Washington. With Sony recently demonstrating a lower threshold for underperforming studios and projects, the margin for error has vanished. Whatever happens, the next six months will determine whether Marathon becomes a cornerstone of Sony’s live-service portfolio or a cautionary tale of vision exceeding accessibility. I’m hoping it’s the former, because Marathon rocks. As always, hit subscribe to get updates on Marathon and other relevant games. Subscribe Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
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