Disney Dreamlight Valley Scraps Free-to-Play Plans, Sets Pricing Tiers Ahead of Global Launch

Emmerdale star Alan McKenna quickly made his mark in the Yorkshire village after his debut as Rhona Goskirk's ex-husband Gus earlier this year. But before Alan, 57 joined the cast of the hit ITV soap he appeared in several other popular shows including The Bill, Waterloo Road and Happy Valley.The actor has also appeared in rival soaps EastEnders and Coronation Street where he played a dangerous villain.The soap star not only acts but has written, produced, and starred in his own underwater action film. Here's everything we know about Alan as his character continues to cause trouble in Emmerdale...

Travis Barker has shared his memories of Taylor Hawkins, the late drummer for the Foo Fighters.Barker, the drummer for Blink-182, said to The LA Times that he had spoken to Hawkins shortly before his death. Hawkins was found dead in his hotel room aged 50 in March 2022, hours before Foo Fighters were set to headline a festival in the city as part of a South American tour. No cause of death was given.According to Barker, he and Hawkins both lived in the San Fernando Valley, where Hawkins suggested they ride mountain bikes together.

Valerie Wu Intern Disney Branded Television has acquired first-generation Taiwanese American filmmaker Sean Wang’s award-winning documentary short, “Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó.” “Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó” features dialogue in both Mandarin and English and is a “multigenerational story” that celebrates Sean Wang’s two grandmothers, one on his father’s side and the other on his mother’s side. The film premiered at the SXSW film festival, where it took home the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney+ topped 150 million streaming subscriptions by the end of its fiscal fourth quarter of the year, up from 146.7 million in the previous quarter. On Wednesday, Disney reported Core Disney+ subscriptions are at 112.6 million subs, as of the quarter ended Sept. 30, and the India-based Disney+ Hotstar is at 37.6 million.

EXCLUSIVE: Four years after his fourth acclaimed comedy special The Great Depresh premiered on HBO, comedian Gary Gulman has set his latest, Born on Third Base, to debut on Max. Directed and produced by James Webb (Mark Normand: Soup to Nuts), his new hour will debut on the streaming platform this December.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Chip and Joanna Gaines‘ Magnolia Network is producing four unscripted series with a family-friendly focus for Max, including one called “Human vs Hamster” that, aptly, pits humans against hamsters in challenges. The unscripted projects, which are set to debut in 2024, are described as “ambitious large-scale competitions” and “out-of-the-box social experiments” that are intended to create a co-viewing experience on Max for parents and children.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney Dreamlight Valley held its first-ever showcase presentation Wednesday ahead of the Gameloft game’s move out of its year-long “early access” phase into a global launch, unveiling plans for the life-simulation through late 2024 in two roadmaps: one for paid expansion content and one for free upgrades included with the cost of the base game. The streamed event came on the heels of last week’s reveal that Disney had scrapped plans to make the game free-to-play once it left its beta testing and instead set pricing tiers and an additional cost for the game’s first expansion, “A Rift in Time.” A number of updates about the future of Disney Dreamlight Valley were given, including the game’s upcoming launch on Apple’s subscription gaming platform Apple Arcade.

Emily Longeretta It turns out, you don’t have to wait — or pay. All 128 episodes of “Dawson’s Creek” are now available to stream on The CW app, Variety can exclusively announce. The fully ad-supported app, which has more than 96 million downloads, is available for free on all major platforms.

Kim Kardashian‘s underwear company SKIMS has launched men’s products and now the brand has been named the official underwear partner of the NBA, the WNBA, and USA Basketball.

Princess Andre looks just like her mum, Katie Price, in a holiday snap taken while she was away with her dad, Peter Andre. The 16 year old shared a photo of her in a stunning blue midi dress, as she enjoyed a sun-soaked break.

S Club is heading stateside to throw a party near you!

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor A24 has forged an exclusive output deal with Happinet Phantom Studios covering the distribution in Japan of A24’s upcoming releases, including Alex Garland’s action film “Civil War,” starring Kirsten Dunst, which has a highly anticipated launch at AFM this week. Happinet and A24 have worked together on the release of a number of films in Japan, including triple Oscar winner “Moonlight,” and “Midsommar,” whose gross in the territory was the biggest outside North America.

Katie Price has shared her fears after receiving nasty death threats and having her home targeted by a cruel gang.The mum-of-five spoke about the scary experience on Living With Lucy, revealing that the violent group have damaged her home.The 45 year old model confessed she was left shocked - but it wasn't the first time her family had been threatened. Katie remembered how she once received kidnap threats and was held at gunpoint with her children.The reality star said: "I've had three kidnap threats, been held at gunpoint during a hijack in South Africa with Princess and Junior while we were filming.That was two years ago. We thought we were dead.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Episode 7 of “Gen V,” titled “Sick” now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. One week until the Season 1 finale of “Gen V” and Amazon’s college spinoff of “The Boys” has revealed just how tight the ties that bind it to its parent series are. In Episode 7, “Sick,” there are callbacks to storylines planted at the beginning of “The Boys,” and vital information relayed from characters on one show to another.

Sony has responded to potential criticism of the cost of PlayStation Plus, arguing that the price hasn’t moved in “many years”.In an interview with Barron’s, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s marketing, sales, and business operations head Eric Lempel was asked how the company calculated the recent rise in the cost of the subscription service.“We want to make PlayStation Plus great. With our reboot last year and introducing the tier system, a lot of consumers have recognised that there’s a lot of value in PlayStation 5,” replied Lempel.“I’m happy to say, unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85 per cent of the world in many years.

Warner Bros. Discovery is restructuring its Global Brands, Franchises, and Experiences — overseeing worldwide consumer products, themed entertainment, franchise management and DC Comics businesses – following the departure of the division’s president Pam Lifford.

Paramount+ said Monday that it will roll out its Premium tier subscriptions in Australia, Canada, Brazil and Mexico on November 16, with more international markets to follow.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Jet Lag: The Game” is refueled for Season 8 and bringing “Challenge Accepted” host Michelle Khare along for the ride. Streamy winner Khare has joined “Jet Lag” as the guest contestant on the new season of the hit web travel game show, which will be returning to the U.S. for its eighth season after several installments shot abroad in Europe, Japan and New Zealand, playing alongside usual competitors: Sam Denby, Adam Chase and Ben Doyle (the winner of Season 7).

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sold more than 2.5 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability, making it PlayStation Studios’ fastest-selling game ever. That stat includes pre-order sales of individual units, as well as units bundled with PlayStation 5.

Diablo 4 is free to play for all Xbox players as part of the platform’s Free Play Days, alongside Hokko Life, Lawn Mowing Simulator and NBA 2K24.Though Hokko Life, Lawn Mowing Simulator and NBA 2K24 require an active Xbox Game Pass Core or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to play them for free, Diablo 4 is available for all Xbox players.However, Diablo 4 is limited to 10 hours of play, which is a little less than halfway through the story should the player focus only on the main missions.Owing to the open world structure of the game, exploration of Sanctuary and its side missions is encouraged and will offer players a sense of what the entire game is like.Additionally, multiplayer is possible in the free timed trial and all progress achieved in those 10 hours will transfer over to the full game if the player chooses to purchase.All four games are available between October 19 and October 22.