This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
Sony’s souped-up PlayStation 5 Pro is $100 off for the rest of today
24 Dec 2025, 3:00 pm by Cameron Faulkner
Sony’s full suite of PlayStation 5 consoles jumped in price in August due to increased US tariffs, but now through Christmas, you can save $100 on several models. This discount is especially great if you planned to go big with Sony’s PS5 Pro, the company’s priciest, most powerful console yet. Normally $749.99, you can currently grab one at Amazon, Walmart, and Target for around $689.99. Sony’s PlayStation Direct storefront indicates that the PS5 Pro sale ends on December 25th at 3AM ET, although discounts may remain on cheaper models.
PlayStation 5 Pro
Where to Buy:
The PS5 Pro plays many games at their best resolution, while making far fewer concessions than the standard PS5 when it comes to visual effects (particularly ray tracing and shadow quality). Some games simply look better or run faster on the Pro than the base-model PS5, while others look better and run faster. That said, it’s worth noting that PS5 Pro lacks a disc drive and is thus limited to digital titles, though you can buy an optional drive for $80 if you want to attach one later.
The PlayStation 5 Pro has a bigger GPU than any other PS5 model, with twice as much internal storage as the current slim models (2TB versus 1TB). Another notable feature exclusive to the Pro is PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution), which uses AI to upscale graphics in supported games to produce a better-looking image. The difference in performance between the Pro and the base PS5 is easy to notice in several games, although it’s safe to say that there hasn’t yet been a title that makes upgrading to one a no-brainer. But if a lower price is all the encouragement you needed to upgrade, now is a good time to get one.
Read our full PS5 Pro review.
The best shows and movies to stream on Netflix in 2025
24 Dec 2025, 1:30 pm by Ash Parrish
Netflix has had an interesting year. Its ad tier, introduced last year, has grown significantly, and its live TV initiative has expanded to include not only weird one-offs like hot-dog-eating grudge matches but also WWE programming. Taking KPop Demon Hunters off Sony’s hands for the business equivalent of $200 in a potato chip bag also turned out to be a pretty smart move for Netflix. The animated feature about, well, demon-hunting K-pop stars, became the most watched movie in the platform’s history and a global cultural phenomenon in its own right. The sing-along theatrical release sold out, songs from the movie sat comfortably at the top o …
In 2025, AI became a lightning rod for gamers and developers
24 Dec 2025, 1:00 pm by Ash Parrish
2025 was the year generative AI made its presence felt in the video game industry. Its use has been discovered in some of the most popular games of the year, and CEOs from some of the largest game studios claim it’s being implemented everywhere in the industry including in their own development processes. Meanwhile, rank-and-file developers, especially in the indie games space, are pushing back against its encroachment, coming up with ways to signal their games are gen-AI free.
Generative AI has largely replaced NFTs as the buzzy trend publishers are chasing. Its proponents claim that the technology will be a great democratization force in …
The Pluribus finale showed there’s a lot more to the story
24 Dec 2025, 8:00 am by Andrew Webster
It’s a good thing that we already know a second season of Pluribus is on the way. Because the season finale for the show – a sci-fi drama on Apple TV, helmed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan – made it clear that things are just getting started. The episode brought together a number of significant threads but, more importantly, opened up potentially explosive (literally) new lines of inquiry for what comes next.
Spoiler to follow for the first season of Pluribus.
First, a little reminder of how we got here. The inciting incident of Pluribus was the release of a virus of unknown, but extraterrestrial, origins, that turned almost the en …
Trump administration bars former EU official and anti-disinformation and hate researchers from US
24 Dec 2025, 12:11 am by Richard Lawler
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration followed through on a threat of retaliation targeting foreigners who are involved in content moderation. The State Department announced sanctions barring US access for former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, as well as four researchers, while issuing an intentionally chilling threat to others, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming, “The State Department stands ready and willing to expand today’s list if other foreign actors do not reverse course.”
One of the researchers the State Department says is banned and now deportable, is Imran Ahmed, who runs the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
