Following a nearly 60-year onscreen career, Michael Douglas‘ leading man days might be in the past.
At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the 2x Oscar winner recently noted that unless “something special came up” for him to play, he has “no real intentions” of returning to acting in the future.
“I’ve had a very busy career. Now, I have not worked since 2022, purposefully, because I realized I had to stop,” he explained during a press conference.
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“I’d been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set,” added Douglas. “I’m very happy with taking the time off. I have no real intentions. But I say I’m not retired, because if something special came up, I’d go back. But otherwise, I’m quite happy. I just like to watch my wife work.”
The comment comes after Douglas teased Deadline in December that he’s “flirting with” the idea of making a “good horror” movie in the near future.
After undergoing chemotherapy for his stage IV cancer diagnosis in 2010, Douglas noted at KVIFF that he “was lucky to continue working,” avoiding a form of tongue cancer that would have removed part of his jaw and limited his ability to speak.
Douglas is currently at KVIFF for the 50th anniversary of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to present a newly restored version of the Miloš Forman film, which Douglas produced with Saul Zaentz.
Oil extended declines after OPEC+ agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase next month, raising concerns about oversupply just as US tariffs fan fears about the demand outlook.
Brent slid as much as 1.6% toward $67 a barrel after falling 0.7% on Friday, and West Texas Intermediate was near $66. The group led by Saudi Arabia decided on Saturday to increase supply by 548,000 barrels a day, putting OPEC+ on track to unwind its most recent output cuts a year earlier than planned.
More than a year after implementing the first phase of the single-use plastics ban, Hong Kong restaurateurs are lamenting the lack of suitable alternative materials. As the city’s problem with plastic waste persists, the government can learn from successful international case studies and accelerate the adoption of proper plastic alternatives to achieve a plastic-free future.
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The implementation of a two-phase ban on single-use plastics in Hong Kong has taken a hit, as the city struggles to find alternatives.
Last month, Secretary for the Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said on Commercial Radio that the government is looking to launch a trial campaign with selected restaurants within two months to test alternative products and provide feedback to suppliers for improvement. “We will implement the second phase of the legislation only when the alternative product technology is more mature,” Tse told iCable in June. “It is difficult to require everyone to use their own utensils when buying take-away food, we need to find suitable alternatives before we continue with phase two,” he added.
Two-Phase Ban
The Legislative Council passed the Product Eco-responsibility (Amendment) Bill for regulating disposable plastic tableware and other plastic products in October 2023.
The first phase prohibits the sale or supply of styrofoam tableware, disposable plastic tableware such as straws, stirrers, cutlery, and plates, as well as the supply of cups, cup lids, food containers, and food container lids to dine-in and take-out customers in catering establishments. In the second phase, the supply and sale of all of the above plastic tableware in Hong Kong will be forbidden.
At the same time, hotels and guesthouses are banned from providing free disposable toiletries and grooming products (including rubber-handled toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower caps, razors, nail files, combs, and any liquid products stored in disposable plastic containers), as well as free disposable water in plastic bottles in rooms. The second phase will further prohibit the sale and free supply of multipack rings, table cloths, and plastic stemmed dental floss, and the distribution of free earplugs.
The manufacturing, supply and sale of oxidizable biodegradable plastic products – plastics that cannot be completely decomposed – have also been prohibited since the first phase was implemented in April 2024.
Businesses failing to comply with the regulation will be issued a notice and fined $2,000 if they have not taken action within 21 days from the notice. Repeated offences may result in fines of up to HK$100,000.
Recycling center Green@Island in Tung Chung, Hong Kong. Photo: Nansen Chen.
More than 19% of the 3.97 million tonnes of municipal solid waste disposed of at Hong Kong’s landfills in 2023 was plastic waste, a 10.5% decrease from the year prior, according to Environmental Protection Department (EPD) figures. Meanwhile, the quantity of plastic recycled locally rose from 119,900 tonnes in 2022 to 126,600 tonnes in 2023 – but still represented only 6.5% of the total waste.
Other Initiatives
To counter the rising plastic problem in the city, the EPD in 2021 also rolled out a Reverse Vending Machine pilot scheme for collecting plastic beverage containers, which was subsequently expanded to 120 machines scattered across all 18 Hong Kong districts. The machines offer a HK$0.10 rebate for each plastic beverage container returned. Customers need to register an account, and can return a maximum of 30 containers per day.
“The machine is effective and does not require a huge monetary incentive. The refund of 10 cents for each plastic bottle is alreadyattractive enough for the public to be willing to recycle,” Tse said in February.
As of last month, the scheme had collected 179 million containers, which are sent to local recyclers, saving more than 6.7 million kilograms of carbon emission, according to EPD data.
However, some critics have argued that the incentive is too low. According to Robert Kelman, Director at Reloop Pacific, an international non-profit that tackles packaging waste throughout the Pacific, the HK$0.10 rebate – the lowest in the world for such a program – is “virtually meaningless” to most Hong Kong consumers. He further argued that the low number of plastic bottles received at the recycling centres is disincentivizing recycling companies to invest in the scheme.
For Kelman, a scheme cannot succeed unless it is both convenient to consumers and offers an adequate refund value.
“I’m not sure which studies Tse was referring to when he said the rebate of 10 HK cents (1.3 US cents) was ‘attractive enough’ after lawmakers raised doubts about the effectiveness of such a rebate,” said Edwin Lau Che-feng, Executive Director of local environmental organization Green Earth. “Why not use a deposit approach in light of successful cases around the world, some of which have achieved a recovery rate of more than 90 per cent?”
Lau was referring to so-called Deposit Refund Schemes (DRSs), which apply an initial deposit, or “tax”, on the purchase, which is then returned to the consumer upon proper recycling.
More than 40 countries around the world have implemented DRSs. Slovakia, for example, requires consumers to pay a deposit of €0.15 (HK$1.37) for packaged beverages. The scheme, launched in 2022, resulted in a recovery rate of 70% in the first year. Similarly, Germany imposes deposits on glass and plastic beverage containers ranging between €0.08 and €0.25 (HK$0.73-2.28) and in 2022, it was able to achieve a 98.4% return rate.
“The authorities should realise that had they taken the deposit approach, coupled with a higher deposit value than the current rebate of 10 HK cents, producers, with retailers’ support, would have no trouble reaching a recovery rate higher than the suggested initial targets of 10 per cent for drink cartons and 30 per cent for plastic bottles,” said Lau.
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You might also like: 3 Waste Management Solutions from Around the World
Plastic-Free Matters
Plastics take 400 years to decompose – and even then, they do not fully disappear but rather break down into tiny particles known as microplastics. According to Greenpeace East Asia, 97% of Hong Kong’s riverine waste is plastic, of which more than 70% is food, logistics and beverage packaging as well as disposable tableware.
In 2021, Greenpeace found microplastics in Hong Kong’s countryside streams for the first time, and last year, it detected microplastics in the feces of countryside mammals.
97% of the waste on Hong Kong’s riverbanks is plastic waste, of which the four major categories of packaging waste, food, logistics, beverages and disposable tableware account for 70%. Photo: Greenpeace.
“Country streams are at the front end of the entire water cycle. The fact that they are contaminated by microplastics is a major warning sign that plastic pollution in urban rivers and oceans may be even more serious,” said Tam Wing-lam, the Greenpeace’s Project Director. She warned that microplastics can contaminate the water system, threatening public health.
Christelle Not, Senior Lecturer of Department of Earth Sciences in University of Hong Kong, said Greenpeace’s findings demonstrated that wildlife can still take up microplastics from the environment even when they are far away from urban areas and human activities.
Microplastics carry harmful additives and toxins that can damage the nervous, immune and endocrine systems when they accumulate in the food chain and enter the human body. Exposure to plastics and microplastics is linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes, developmental disorder, cancers, birth defects, and endocrine disruption.
Plastic is also detrimental to animals. Sea animals like turtles often mistake plastic for food, but their bodies are unable to digest it. They can become entangled, leading to injuries and even death.
A research team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) found that micro beads, manufactured micro plastics used in products ranging from facial scrubs to toothpastes, ending up in the digestive tracts of fish and other marine creatures can affect their growth and development. “Despite all the adverse impacts these minute plastic pollutants have on the marine ecosystems, they are still being used in many personal care products around the world – including here in Hong Kong,” said Karen Chan, Assistant Professor from the Division of Life Science at HKUST and study lead.
The Greenpeace research team selected riverbanks with high ecological value as investigation sites to record the actual pollution caused by plastic waste from the city falling into the riverbanks. Photo: Greenpeace.
Finding Alternatives
The most common plastic substitutes in Hong Kong include paper, bamboo, wood, and plant-based fibers such as wood pulp, grass pulp, and bagasse. Among these, paper and bagasse are the most widely used in both tableware and daily accessories due to their eco-friendliness and practicality.
While considered more eco-friendly than plastic, paper packaging manufacturing is still associated with carbon dioxide emissions and extensive water usage. According to local environmental NGO Friends of the Earth, producing one tonne of paper generates approximately 950 kilograms of carbon dioxide and requires 2,700 litres of water. Still, contrary to plastic, paper is a natural, biological, and in most cases renewable material, making it a better alternative.
The Hong Kong Consumer Council also reported in 2022 that perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in 23 samples of bagasse-based vegetable fibre tableware, with some paper drinking straws exceeding the European Union’s safe limits.
PFAS – better known as forever chemicals – are synthetic chemicals used in the manufacture of heat-, oil-, and water-resistant coatings for products like nonstick cookware or waterproof clothes. They are associated with increased risk of certain cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers, and found to reduce the body’s immune system’s ability to fight off infections.
In 2023, researchers from the University of Antwerp in Belgium who examined 39 different types of straws (paper, glass, bamboo, stainless steel, plastic) discovered that PFAS was present in 90% of paper straws and 80% of bamboo straws. 75% of all tested plastic straws also contained PFAS.
A backstreet in Hong Kong littered with plastic. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
The cost of non-plastic tableware is also one of the factors that restaurants need to take into account. According to the Environmental Protection Department, the price difference between the lowest-priced disposable plastic product option and its lowest-priced alternative is still relatively large, ranging from HK$0.12 to HK$0.68.
However, costs are expected to decrease as demand, and consequently production, ramp up, said Simon Wong Ka-wo, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades.
Some restaurant owners or customers were also unhappy about the quality of alternative options. “If you’re walking home with your takeaway order in this box, that’d be fine. But if you have to drive, then that wouldn’t work,” the owner of a Shanghainese restaurant, who is surnamed Lee, told Hong Kong Free Press last April.
“It literally takes two sips [before] the [paper] straw starts getting soggy, and the forks don’t even work!” said one of his customers.
At the end of the day, neither recycling nor switching to biodegradable tableware is the best solution, environmentalists argue.
“Instead of placing our hopes in recycling and the use of degradable plastics, we should seek to avoid, reduce at source and reuse,” said Lau. “We must ditch our addiction to single-use plastics, slash plastic production at source and develop genuine plastic-free and harmless alternatives.”
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons.
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Understanding the link between job strain, stress, and smoking to severe climacteric symptoms, urging better workplace and healthcare support for midlife women.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study published in the July 2025 issue of European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology to explore how work- and health-related factors were associated with climacteric symptoms among middle-aged full-time working women prior to receiving any treatment.
They assessed 313 Finnish women aged 52–56 years who were employed full-time and had never used any treatment for climacteric symptoms (n = 313). Symptom experience was measured based on the presence and severity of menopause-related symptoms negatively affecting general or work-related well-being. These symptoms included hot flushes, sweat, sleeping problems, vaginal dryness and tenderness, loss of sexual desire, and depressive symptoms. The analyzed work- and health-related factors included psychosocial work environment, health behaviors such as body size, physical activity, smoking, perceived stress, and social support.
The results showed that a high-strain job, active smoking status, elevated stress levels, and limited social support were linked to both higher frequency and greater severity of climacteric symptoms. Women presenting these characteristics experienced menopause-related symptoms more often and with an increased intensity compared to those without these traits.
Investigators concluded that multiple factors impacted how full-time working women experienced climacteric symptoms before treatment, underscoring the need for collaborative efforts between healthcare professionals and employers to support women’s health and well-being.
A survey in Japan found that 32% of companies there said that they had experienced a cyberattack.
Cyber Threats
A May 2025 survey by Teikoku Databank found that around a third of Japanese companies had experienced a cyberattack. The online survey was aimed at 26,389 companies nationwide, receiving 10,645 valid responses.
A total of 32.0% of companies said that they had experienced a cyberattack, while 52.4% said that they had not and 15.6% said that they did not know. Large companies were more likely to have experienced such an attack at 41.9%, compared with 30.3% for small and medium-sized companies and 28.1% for small businesses alone.
Overall, 6.7% of companies experienced a cyberattack in the past month, but for this time period it was more common at smaller enterprises, affecting 6.9% of small and medium-sized companies and 7.9% of small businesses. Teikoku Databank noted the rapid recent rise in risk for such firms.
Data Sources
Cyberattack survey data (Japanese) from Teikoku Databank, 2025.
Business size categories are defined differently for various industries, with small and medium-sized firms having fewer than 300 employees in the manufacturing sector and fewer than 50 or 100 in other sectors, and small businesses having fewer than 20 employees in manufacturing and fewer than 5 in most other sectors.
Fifty thousand years ago, North America’s landscapes were alive with an astonishing array of enormous creatures. Massive woolly mammoths roamed vast icy plains, while dense forests echoed with the growls of mastodons and saber-toothed cats. Herds of gigantic bison, towering camels, and huge wolves traveled freely, and oversized beavers claimed lakes and rivers. East of the Rockies, giant sloths weighing over a ton lumbered slowly through lush grasslands.
But by the end of the Last Ice Age, most of these remarkable animals vanished, leaving scientists with a deep and enduring mystery: what caused their sudden disappearance?
Humans Versus Climate
Researchers have long debated two main explanations. Some experts strongly believe that early humans were responsible. Humans arrived in North America around the same time as these animals disappeared, about 13,000 years ago. Early settlers might have hunted these creatures heavily, competed with them for resources, or altered their habitats dramatically. The timing certainly fits.
USNM 23792, Mammuthus primigenius, or Woolly Mammoth (composite), Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution. (CREDIT: Gary Mulcahey)
Yet many other scientists point to climate change as the main cause. As the planet warmed, glaciers melted and ecosystems rapidly changed. Animals adapted to cold conditions suddenly struggled as environments became warmer. But this explanation is incomplete, as some animals managed to survive longer than others despite similar environmental changes.
“No single theory explains everything we see,” said Dr. Emily Lindsey, a paleontologist at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. “The evidence strongly suggests multiple factors working together.”
Indeed, alternative ideas like disease or even a comet strike that disrupted ecosystems remain under consideration. The debate continues because finding solid proof is extremely challenging.
Solving the Puzzle with Modern Science
One significant hurdle in solving this mystery is the poor condition of fossils from that era. Bones found at ancient sites are often broken, weathered, and badly damaged. Over thousands of years, exposure to harsh weather, physical damage, and decay destroy valuable clues, leaving scientists with incomplete evidence.
Despite this, researchers are hopeful thanks to recent advances in science. Modern technology, especially biomolecular techniques, can now uncover hidden information within these damaged bones.
Scientists at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History are leading this effort. The museum houses an enormous collection of bones excavated from archaeological sites decades ago, many untouched because of their fragmented condition.
The identified species included bison, mammoths (genus Mammuthus), camels (family Camelidae), and possibly mastodons (genus Mammut). (CREDIT: Leonello Calvetti / Getty Images)
New Life from Old Bones
ZooMS works by identifying collagen proteins preserved in bones. Even though most proteins quickly degrade after death, collagen lasts much longer. Each animal species has a unique collagen “barcode,” allowing scientists to accurately identify even tiny fragments of bones previously impossible to classify.
In a recent groundbreaking study, scientists tested whether the Smithsonian’s bones, excavated between 1934 and 1981 from five archaeological sites in Colorado, still held collagen suitable for ZooMS. Despite doubts due to the age and damage, the results were surprising.
“We found that 80% of these ancient bone fragments contained enough collagen for ZooMS analysis,” explained Dr. Rachel Hopkins, a researcher at the Smithsonian. “About 73% could be identified to at least the genus level.”
Among the identified animals were mammoths, camels, bison, and possibly mastodons. Some fragments could only be narrowed down to broader animal groups due to limited reference databases for North American animals. But even this partial identification offers valuable new insights.
The preparation of a sample plate for ZooMS analysis. The tiny droplets being deposited using the pipette contain small amounts of ground up collagen that will be analyzed on a mass spectrometer. (CREDIT: Samantha Brown)
Changing the Game for Archaeology
This discovery transforms the value of previously overlooked museum collections. Bones once considered too fragmented or degraded now hold crucial information. ZooMS provides a cost-effective and rapid method to analyze old bones, helping scientists piece together a more complete picture of the past.
The new technique allows researchers to explore deeper questions about the extinction of giant animals. Knowing precisely where and when these creatures lived, and how quickly they vanished, is critical to understanding why they disappeared. Techniques like ZooMS promise to clarify these questions significantly.
This research also highlights the importance of maintaining museum collections, even if they appear less impressive at first glance.
“Museum collections can be treasure troves,” said Dr. Hopkins. “We need to preserve them because today’s technology can find answers from yesterday’s forgotten bones.”
1961 excavation at Lamb Spring, showing Ed Lewis (standing on left) and Waldo Wedel, along with two fieldmen. Glenn Scott can be seen in the excavation pit alongside some mammoth bones wrapped in plaster jackets for preservation. (CREDIT: USGS public domain image)
As funding becomes tighter, museums often struggle to keep vast collections of bones and artifacts. However, this study emphasizes why protecting these collections matters greatly. Old bones stored away for decades can now answer critical scientific questions, shedding light on major events like North America’s megafaunal extinction.
While the ultimate cause of the extinction remains debated, modern methods like ZooMS are bringing scientists closer than ever to solving this ancient mystery. Each bone fragment analyzed is another piece in this fascinating puzzle, slowly uncovering the story of the spectacular animals that once roamed North America—and the factors that led to their sudden disappearance.
Hot on the heels of the layoffs that have swept through Xbox, the founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios has hit out at Game Pass, whose subscription model he called “unsustainable.”
Raphael Colantonio, who founded the Dishonored and Prey developer and served as its president before leaving in 2017 to start Weird West maker WolfEye Studios, took to social media to ask: “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass).”
When asked to expand on his thoughts on Game Pass, which Weird West launched straight into as a day one title in March 2022, Colantonio said: “I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s ‘infinite money,’ but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.”
Colantonio’s comment sparked a vociferous debate about the pros and cons of Game Pass in industry terms as well as for the customer. Microsoft’s subscription service has been called many things over the years: the death of the video game industry; the savior of smaller developers who benefit greatly from payments made by Microsoft to secure their games; and everything in between. During the great Xbox FTC trial to decide the fate of Microsoft’s $69 billion aquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan claimed that he had talked to “all the publishers” and that, unanimously, they all hated Game Pass “because it is value destructive.” He also said Microsoft “appears to be losing a lot of money on it.”
Back in 2021, Xbox boss Phil Spencer countered Game Pass doomsayers, saying: “I know there’s a lot of people that like to write [that] we’re burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end. No. Game Pass is very, very sustainable right now as it sits. And it continues to grow.”
That was four years ago. What about now, in the wake of cuts that have seen Rare’s Everwild, the Perfect Dark reboot, and an unannounced MMO in the works at developer behind The Elder Scrolls Online all canceled?
Colantonio’s comments were backed by a number of industry peers, including the former VP of biz dev at Epic Games. Michael Douse, publishing director at Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, said that the biggest concern right now revolves around what happens when all that money runs out. This, Douse added, is “one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model. The infinite money thing never made any sense.”
(It’s worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 has so far not launched in Game Pass or PlayStation Plus.)
Colantonio then ridiculed Microsoft’s insistence that launching games into Game Pass did not impact sales, only to later admit the contrary.
Douse responded to to say he prefers the Sony way of doing things. Sony’s PlayStation Plus policy is to keep first-party games off the subscription service at launch, only adding them some time later. That’s why you won’t see this year’s Sony’s Ghost of Yotei launch straight into PS Plus, but you will see Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as a day one Game Pass launch.
“The economics never made sense, but at the same time I do recognize that for smaller teams with new or riskier IPs it helped derisk,” Douse said. “Much prefer Sony’s ‘lifecycle management’ strategy.”
“Yeah, the only way GP can co-exist without hurting everyone is for the back catalogue,” Colantonio concluded.
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Reports have indicated that Microsoft’s layoffs were more about the company’s high-profile push into AI than any failing with the gaming business, but Colantonio suggested this was “a bs excuse.”
He then went on to insist that “the maths don’t work for most publishers/devs nor for Xbox once they stop investing.”
Colantonio was also asked why Microsoft would continue to push Game Pass if it were unsustainable, even now, eight years after it launched. He responded to say that Game Pass isn’t profitable, Microsoft is still in the “customer acquisition phase”, and the company hopes that one day, subscription revenue will make its significant investment pay off.
Colantonio explained that Game Pass on its own cannot be considered profitable because you need to factor in the billions of dollars Microsoft has spent acquiring content for the subscription service, and he includes Bethesda owner ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard in that equation. “It’s a spreadsheet trick where they don’t put that detail in a profit and loss section, but instead in the amortization over time,” he claimed.
Game Pass is of course an incredible deal for the gamer that lets subscribers dip in and out of a long list of games for a fraction of the cost of buying those games standalone. Game Pass is often said to be too good to be true because of how cheap it is relative to what it offers. When you throw in every game Microsoft has on its books as a day one Game Pass launch (Call of Duty included), the deal feels even better.
For Colantonio, though, the Game Pass deal is “too good.”
“What *might* happen once MS has won: the games will start to suck and your sub will go up,” he added. “Why? Because the current amazing deal you have is subsided by MS bleeding money into it with the hope they’ll kill the competition, but once they manage to do it, things will get real.”
He added: “… it’s a long game that involves throwing a tsunami at the entire ecosystem of the industry. Only the gamers like it because the offer is too good to be true, but eventually even gamers will hate it when they realize the effects on the games.”
Microsoft does not report on the success of Game Pass either way in financial terms. Indeed, its reporting on its gaming business is vague at best. In its last financial report (for the quarter ending March 31, 2025), Microsoft said Xbox content and services grew 8% year-over-year, which was in part due to growth in Xbox Game Pass. PC Game Pass revenue increased 45% year-over-year. But we don’t have an updated figure for how many subscribers Game Pass has, nor how much money it brings in.
In an April interview with Variety, Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer was asked how he views Game Pass’s ongoing role in the larger Xbox business. Spencer replied to say he thinks about Game Pass as “a healthy option for certain people,” but admitted “it’s not for everybody.”
“Our biggest areas of growth right now are PC and Cloud, which makes sense, since consoles, all up, are a good business, they’re an established business, but they’re not really a growing segment in gaming,” he said.
“So we’ve got good growth on PC, we’ve got growth on Cloud, in terms of users and hours. And console continues to be a really healthy part of Game Pass. But there isn’t a unique need for Game Pass to be the only way for people to play. If everybody who’s a Game Pass subscriber instead decided to buy their games, that’s good for the business as well.
“For me, I look at Game Pass as a healthy option for certain people. It’s not for everybody. If you play one or two games a year, Game Pass probably isn’t the right business model for you, you should just buy those two games, and that would make total sense. But I want you to have the choice. So we remain focused on everything that’s on Game Pass is also available to buy. We’re making those games available to buy in more places.
“And I look at the overall hours of people who are playing on Xbox, playing our games, and that’s a number that continues to grow fairly substantially, and that’s really the metric I think about for success. And Game Pass has been an important part of that, but I don’t try to solve for Game Pass specifically on its own. It’s kind of part of the equation for Xbox finding new players.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Trump has made his lack of support for EVs no secret, and his newly implemented ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ led to the nation’s US$7500 (A$11,450) tax credit for battery-powered cars being repealed.
As reported by Nikkei Asia, this has spelt bad news for Honda, which the publication claims has cancelled plans for one of its three upcoming EVs, specifically a large SUV originally due to launch in the US in 2027.
Honda hasn’t shown off a concept of the large SUV, only its mid-size SUV and sedan counterparts, which were previewed by the 0 SUV and 0 Saloon concepts earlier this year. Both of these models are reportedly still set to launch in North America from 2026.
While SUVs account for approximately 60 per cent of all vehicle sales in the US – Honda’s largest market globally – large SUVs aren’t as popular as their mid-size alternatives, and the axing of the federal tax credit has made Honda’s electric offering unviable.
Honda 0 SUV
It’s not known how affected Honda’s plan to launch seven EVs in the US from its upcoming 0 Series will be, due to the reported cancellation of the large SUV.
The report comes just over a month after Honda itself announced it was unlikely to meet its previous EV sales estimation of 30 per cent by 2030.
“Due to the recent market slowdown, the Honda EV sales ratio in 2030 is now expected to fall below the previously announced target of 30 per cent,” the carmaker announced in May.
“In light of this outlook, Honda is reassessing its EV strategy and roadmap, including plans for the EV product lineup and the timing of relevant investments including one to build a comprehensive EV value chain in Canada.
Honda walks back EV sales goals
“In the meantime, there is no change in the Honda position that EVs are the optimal solution to achieve carbon neutrality of passenger vehicles. Therefore, Honda will steadily carry out initiatives being undertaken to prepare for the future EV shift at the appropriate timing.”
While Honda hasn’t said how much further below the 30 per cent target it expects to be, it had previously committed 10 trillion Yen ($108 billion) towards EV development until early 2032.
This investment was subsequently reduced to seven trillion Yen ($75 billion), with some of that reduction understood to be from postponing its Canadian EV value chain.
Honda had previously earmarked CAD$15 billion (A$16.75 billion) to establish an EV assembly and battery plant in Ontario for the North American market, with the facility to be shared with a joint venture partner.
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