🔥 Pixar isn’t in its element anymore

Whoopi Goldberg was ready to level up in “Diablo IV,” only to learn that, unlike previous “Diablo” releases, it wasn’t playable on a Mac.

“Diablo” maker Blizzard Entertainment merged with Activision in 2008. Now, Microsoft is trying to acquire Activision Blizzard — so perhaps it makes sense that it’d cut off a rival operating system.

But Mac users know that numerous video games are simply incompatible.

The problem…

… is market share. Though modern Macs can handle games, Macs weren’t designed for gaming.

So, studios didn’t often develop for them, and avid computer gamers chose Windows thanks to its wider library of compatible titles.

• In January 2023, Statista found that ~96% of Steam players gaming on desktops and laptops use Windows.

So, studios aren’t incentivized to spend time and money developing for macOS. The inverse is true for mobile games, where iOS reigns supreme.

There have been some workarounds…

… such as cloud gaming services like Amazon Luna, which require fast internet, and compatibility layers — software interfaces that allow programs designed for one environment to run on another, such as a Windows game on macOS or Linux.

Wine is one such compatibility layer for gaming, but it’s hit or miss.

Until now?

At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, when not talking about Apple Vision Pro, Apple announced a new operating system — macOS Sonoma.

It comes with the new Game Porting Toolkit: a patch to Wine that supports DirectX 12, the graphics API Windows 11 uses, per Inverse.

The TL;DR is that this has allowed some users (you need an Apple developer account to access it now) to play massive newer games, like — yes, Whoopi — “Diablo IV,” with relative, though not perfect, smoothness.

Ideally…

… studios could use the toolkit to make macOS versions of existing games.

But that could mean selling them via Apple’s store, where it takes a big ol’ commission — Epic Games vs. Apple, anyone?

The stakes were high for Elemental, Pixar’s 27th feature film, made on a $200m+ budget.

But if you’d taken a look at the TikTok consumer sentiment index — known more widely as the comments section — the outcome here might’ve seemed pretty obvious.

Top comments on Elemental’s recent TikTok ads, viewed by millions, include negative reactions like:

• “The Disney magic is fading away.”
• “Can’t wait to not watch this.”
• “It’ll probably make, like, $20 at the box office. $21, if they’re lucky.”

By that measure, Pixar won the lottery this weekend — but by other measures, Elemental failed to build chemistry with audiences, opening to $29.5m at the box office, below analysts’ modest expectations.

Fizzling out

While other recent animated films, like Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Minions: The Rise of Gru, have posted record results — $1.33B and $939.6m worldwide, respectively — Pixar has struggled to heat up.

Elemental’s opening was Pixar’s second-lowest ever, after Toy Story’s $29.1m in 1995… until you adjust for inflation. Today, Toy Story’s opening would be worth ~$57.6m, 98% more than Elemental’s.

The studio hoped Elemental would be a rebound after Lightyear’s box office disappointment, and a momentary high note after Pixar laid off 75 people in May amid Disney’s wider cuts.

The good news: Across the industry, things are looking up for theaters. Per CNBC, this past weekend, movies grossed more at the domestic box office than during the same weekend in 2019, pre-pandemic.

Bet you didn’t expect a field trip to 2100 today, but that’s where we’ve gotta travel to meet Anna — who, by the way, you probably don’t want to meet.

The “future of remote working,” Anna is a new 3D model from the turn of the next century, designed to show the health impacts of working at home. She’s something of a tragic figure:

• Anna’s super hunchbacked: Her poor working posture threw her spine off balance. Her physique’s also strained by weight gain, wrecked skin, and swollen limbs.
• She’s got clawed hands: Too much device time has permanently curled her fingers. Look grotesque? Just imagine how it feels — cramping and muscle aches galore.
• Anna’s basically a racoon in the eye region: Her eyes are dark, red, and swollen from too much time spent squinting at devices.
• Her insides also hurt: Anna’s isolated lifestyle fuels poor mental health; she’s rife with anxiety and depression.

Damn, Anna. If only you gave up the remote dream and found a suitable office job.

Ah, but here’s the thing…

This whole thing was produced by Furniture At Work, a UK furniture supplier with a significant stake in people returning to the office; they outfit businesses, government offices, health care facilities, and schools.

Sure, Anna isn’t without some basis — Furniture At Work did pool scientific research and consult with health experts. And there are surely legitimate health concerns about the long-term impacts of our modern way of life.

But we’re dubious about putting too much stock into this cautionary tale. And we much prefer to put all of our chips into Furniture At Work’s other pioneering research — into the UK’s most “pawfessional” employee.

P.S. Want to know more about Anna? Tough. Furniture At Work’s blog post about her is no longer available, perhaps due to online ridicule that piled up over the weekend.