Disney Drops Star Wars Sequels, Sony Wants Face Scans, GameStop Eyes eBay
ICYMI: The week's strangest geek-and-tech news, in case you missed it. Disney pivots away from the sequel trilogy, Sony moves toward facial age verification, and GameStop tries to buy eBay.
The week pulled some genuinely weird stuff.
Disney spent May the 4th pretending the sequel trilogy didnât happen. Sony decided UK gamers should let a camera scan their face to verify theyâre old enough to play The Last of Us. And GameStop, with a market cap of about $12 billion, announced an unsolicited $55.5 billion offer to acquire eBay, which is roughly four times its size. Prediction markets give the deal a 15-26% chance of closing.
Hereâs what actually happened on each, in case you missed it.
Disneyâs Star Wars Is Having a Very Bad Week
The Disney/Star Wars trouble accumulated all week. On May 1, The Mandalorian and Grogu started tracking lower than Solo, with even mainstream media bracing for another Star Wars box office disappointment three weeks before opening. The film was supposed to be the franchiseâs relaunch moment.
By May 4, Disney was actively distancing itself from the Star Wars sequels for May the 4th, with theme parks leaning hard into Original Trilogy material after the Kathleen Kennedy exodus. Even Star Wars Day social media leaned classic and avoided the sequel-era content the company spent fourteen years promoting.
A day later, Disney quietly conceded that Star Wars films are basically made-for-TV movies now, with friendly-media screenings for The Mandalorian and Grogu and the franchise pivoting toward production economics that donât require theatrical event status. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
Three different layers of the company saying the same thing in five days. The sequel trilogy was the part audiences didnât want. The course correction is happening in real time.
Sony Wants UK Gamers to Scan Their Faces for Age Verification
Starting June 1, UK PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 owners will need to verify their age either with a government-issued driverâs license or with a facial ID scan to access age-restricted content. The rule is downstream of the UK Online Safety Act, which has been driving similar changes across other platforms.
Gamers are predictably furious. The objection isnât really about age verification in principle. Itâs about whether Sony, a company with a documented history of large-scale data breaches, should be the entity holding biometric scans of millions of users.
The broader concern is that this is the start of something rather than the end of it. The UK is the first market. The same regulatory pressure exists in the EU and is gathering in several US states.
GameStopâs $56 Billion eBay Bid Is Either Brilliant or Insane
GameStop is dead serious about buying eBay, with a market cap of around $12 billion and a $55.5 billion offer at $125 per share on the table. The financing is half cash, half stock, with a $20 billion debt commitment from TD Bank backing the cash portion and GameStopâs own $9.4 billion cash pile making up part of the rest. CEO Ryan Cohen says he wants to combine GameStopâs roughly 1,600 brick-and-mortar locations with eBayâs online marketplace to create what he calls a legit competitor to Amazon.
eBayâs board acknowledged receipt and said it would review. eBayâs stock climbed about 5% on the news. GameStopâs stock dropped 10%. Prediction markets arenât optimistic. Kalshi traders give the deal a 26% chance of closing in 2026, and Polymarket gives it 15%.
If this somehow goes through, Cohen is positioned to become CEO of the combined company. If it doesnât, this is the latest chapter in GameStopâs ongoing meme-stock theater. Either outcome is going to be interesting to watch.
Nintendo Couldâve Gone to Jail If Amazon Had Its Way
Nintendo couldâve gone to jail over Amazonâs alleged request for coordinated price fixing on Nintendo products, which is the kind of arrangement that ends business relationships and starts antitrust investigations. The Sherman Act is approximately one hundred and thirty years old at this point and remains pretty clear on this specific behavior being illegal.
Nintendo refused. The relationship between Nintendo and Amazon has been strained ever since. The implications for Switch availability on Amazon going forward are unclear.
The bigger story is Amazonâs apparent willingness to make the request at all, which suggests this isnât a one-off and other publishers may have received similar approaches.
Sony Settling a Class Action Over PS5 Digital Storefront
Sony has to give gamers their money back for several PS5 games purchased between 2019 and 2023. The Last of Us is on the list. Several other titles are too, some of them surprising.
Affected purchasers will reportedly be notified directly. The refund process is straightforward but worth knowing about because anyone who bought from PlayStation Network during that window may have a small refund coming whether they noticed or not.
Wizards of the Coast Caught Plagiarizing Magic Card Art Again
Magic players caught Wizards of the Coast plagiarizing card art from a previous Lord of the Rings-themed card without crediting the original artist. The artist who reused the elements is one of WOTCâs longer-running contributors, which complicates the situation.
Players are predictably angry. The broader concern is the companyâs relationship with its artist community, which has been strained for the last several years over various issues including AI-generated card art that WOTC initially denied and later acknowledged.
Redditâs CEO Picked a Fight With Google
In an instant-classic move, the Reddit CEO went full Reddit Mod on Google and announced that Google needs Reddit more than Reddit needs Google. The reason is the licensing deal Reddit signed letting Google train AI on Reddit content, and Redditâs CEO apparently decided the leverage is theirs.
Whether Google sees it the same way is the open question. Redditâs stock movement on the comments will tell whether investors think the leverage claim is real or theatrical.
Worth Tracking
A few more items worth knowing about. BlueSky and Twitter could merge soon, which would be the social media plot twist of the year if it actually happens. The new Pope may make disclosures about UFOs and aliens, which is the kind of sentence that requires a wait-and-see. Assassinâs Creed Shadows is being outsold on Steam this week by older Assassinâs Creed titles. Pizza Hut is closing 250 underperforming US locations in early 2026 and may be sold off entirely.
Thatâs the week. Catch the full breakdowns on the Clownfish TV YouTube channel where the actual rants live, or read the full posts at ClownfishTV.com.
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About the author:
Thom âKneonâ Pratt is a former newspaper journalist and working comic book creator turned accidental podcaster, accidental YouTuber, and accidental game maker. He co-hosts the Clownfish TV podcast and the Pirates & Princesses podcast, both with Geeky Sparkles, where they cover our weird timeline, geek culture, tech, games, theme parks, and occasionally the paranormal. Gen X, eclectic, based in Pittsburgh. Follow him on X at @kneon.
Hat Tips:
ClownfishTV.com video posts (May 1-6, 2026) â primary source for the weekâs coverage
CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN Business, GameSpot â GameStop / eBay deal coverage (May 3-4, 2026)
GameStop Corp. official press release â non-binding proposal to acquire eBay (May 4, 2026)
Deadline, âBox Office: Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu Eyes $80 Million Openingâ (April 30, 2026)
Disney Parks Blog and Star Wars official social channels (May 4, 2026 content)
The Verge / Eurogamer reporting on UK PlayStation age verification (May 2026)
Bloomberg, âAmazon Sought Nintendo Pricing Coordinationâ (May 2026)
Sonyâs settlement notice on PS5 digital storefront (May 2026)
ICv2 / various Magic: The Gathering coverage (May 2026)