Today's rundown for animation, game design, motion graphics, VFX, and virtual production. ## Updates - **GTA 6 pre-orders keep climbing a week out.** The game is now the most pre-ordered title on both the PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store, with Sensor Tower's tracker estimating nearly 9.69 million pre-orders and $942 million in revenue — up from about 8 million and $751 million just a week ago — and pre-load available on both platforms since November 10 ahead of the November 19 launch ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gta-6-becomes-most-pre-ordered-game-on-playstation-and-xbox-storefronts)). Sensor Tower's comparison puts it 148% ahead of Modern Warfare II's preorder pace at the same point before launch ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sensor-tower-data-shows-the-yawning-gap-between-gta-6-and-everything-else)). Expect next week's coverage — and likely a real-time industry-wide audience shift — to be dominated by this launch. - **David Ellison used his first Paramount/Warner Bros. earnings call to make an AI bet.** The merged company's CEO described AI as the biggest breakthrough since CGI went mainstream, saying he expects it to make content "faster and cheaper," with the roughly $6 billion cost-synergy plan explicitly including scaling AI workflows across the combined studio — while dismissing "AI slop" ([The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/david-ellison-bullish-on-ai-creative-potential-1236751250/)). For VFX and animation professionals, the largest newly merged studio is now officially committed to AI-driven cost reduction — the same signal Weta's CEO described last week when he said studios now shun vendors without an AI strategy. - **Mobile publisher Fortis Games is shutting down, affecting up to 440 workers.** The Las Vegas Sands-funded publisher, founded by WB Games veterans, said it wasn't able to achieve its goals since its 2020 founding, and had just announced the shutdown of its live game Twilight Towers over weak player retention ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/mobile-publisher-fortis-games-shuts-down-up-to-440-workers-affected)). Another reminder that well-funded, non-endemic money is exiting games — and that live-service retention math is unforgiving. - **Laid-off id Software developers have formed an employee-owned studio, Hidden Horses**, and are launching a Kickstarter for their first project, the FPS Danger Pay ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/companies/hidden-horses)). A notable counter-story to the layoff cycle: worker ownership as a survival model for veteran talent. - **Paradox Interactive is changing CEOs.** Fredrik Wester steps down after this stint at the top of the Crusader Kings publisher, with deputy CEO Mattias Lilja taking over January 4, 2027; Wester stays on the board ([GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/)). A quiet but real leadership shift at one of the mid-size strategy-game mainstays. - **Unity laid out its full AI stack and next-gen roadmap.** At AI Game Lab Day, Unity Korea's Jong-tae Park detailed the three pillars — in-editor AI Assistant and Generator, the Unity CLI, and the web-based Unity Spark editor with real-time multiplayer collaboration — plus the rendering roadmap running from Unity 6.6 through 6.7 LTS to next-generation Unity 7 with CoreCLR ([Inven Global](https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/28529/moving-beyond-the-editor-unitys-three-approaches-to-the-ai-ecosystem)). Between Epic's 5.9 agent tooling and this, both major engines are now racing to make the editor itself the AI agent's workspace — worth tracking for curriculum decisions. ## Wider context - **Animation Is Film wrapped in Los Angeles with its prizes.** Leah Nelson's Tangles took the feature Grand Jury Prize and Don Hertzfeldt's Paper Trail won top short, with the shorts jury including Jerry Beck and Elizabeth Ito ([Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/festivals/animation-is-film-winners-highlights-268279.html)) — both now strong 2027 Oscar contenders. - **Spy x Family is getting a new movie and a fourth season in 2027**, following the theatrical success of Code: White ([Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/)). More evidence of anime franchise theatrical expansion continuing. - **Framestore's head of visual development, Alex Villabón, gave a VFXwire interview on how AI will impact the VFX industry**, from his perch hosting the Fix it in Prompt podcast ([VFXwire](https://vfxwire.com/people/interview-alex-villabon-how-ai-will-impact-the-vfx-industry)) — a good practitioner-side read to pair with the Ellison story above. - **Voyager released vork, a headless 3D and VFX engine built specifically for coding agents** — free during its research preview, though it currently needs a recent NVIDIA GPU or Apple Silicon and lacks fog or volumes ([AI Gamer](https://www.aigamer.gg/news)). Real-time rendering pipelines designed agent-first, rather than adapted to agents, is a genuinely new pattern. The theme today is AI moving from policy debate to boardroom mandate — with the biggest new media conglomerate and both major engines now treating AI workflows as core infrastructure. Next rundown arrives tomorrow at 8:00 AM. --- ``` How do I download classic Outlook? ``` --- First check whether you already have it: open the Start menu and type "Outlook." If you see **Outlook (classic)**, you're set. It often sits alongside the new one. If it's not there: 1. **Microsoft's standalone installer.** Go to Microsoft's support page [Install or reinstall classic Outlook on a Windows PC](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/install-or-reinstall-classic-outlook-on-a-windows-pc-5c94902b-31a5-4274-abb0-b07f4661edf5). There you pick your language from a dropdown, hit Download, and follow the prompts. 2. **Through your college's Microsoft 365 license.** Sign in at office.com with your work account and choose Install apps. The full desktop Office suite includes classic Outlook, and this is the route most likely to be licensed properly for your account. One caveat from Microsoft's forums: basic-tier Microsoft 365 plans don't include the right to install it, though faculty licenses usually do. 3. **From inside new Outlook.** If you're already in new Outlook, the Help tab on the ribbon has a "Go to classic Outlook" option, or there may be a "New Outlook" toggle in the top right that you can switch off. Then sign in with your work email, and classic Outlook will set up the account and start syncing. If this is a college-managed computer, installs may be blocked, and IT may need to add it for you. That's a natural moment to ask them the export-permission question too. Sources: - [Microsoft Support: Install or reinstall classic Outlook on a Windows PC](https://support.microsoft.com/Outlook/install-or-reinstall-classic-outlook-on-a-windows-pc) - [Microsoft Q&A: How do I switch back to classic Outlook?](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5912790/how-do-i-switch-back-to-classic-outlook) - [University of Southampton: switching to classic Outlook](https://knowledgenow.soton.ac.uk/Articles/KB0083220) ---