title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series "The Walking Dead" (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He has also appeared in such television roles as John Winchester in the CW fantasy horror series "Supernatural" (2005–2007; 2019), Denny Duquette in the ABC medical drama series "Grey's Anatomy" (2006–2009), Jason Crouse in the CBS political drama series "The Good Wife" (2015–2016), the Comedian in the superhero film "Watchmen" (2009), as well as film roles including Clay in "The Losers" (2010), Sgt. Andrew Tanner in "Red Dawn" (2012), and Agent Harvey Russell in "Rampage" (2018).


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Morgan was born in Seattle, Washington to Sandy Thomas and Richard Dean Morgan. He graduated from Lake Washington High School in 1984 and briefly attended Skagit Valley College to pursue a career in basketball. Following a leg injury that ended his hope of becoming a professional player, he left school to pursue his other interests such as painting and writing. While helping a friend move from Seattle to Los Angeles, intending only to stay for a weekend, he decided to live there permanently to pursue acting. "I fell into acting, found out I had a little talent and pursued it."


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Starting with "Uncaged" (1991), Morgan has appeared in over 25 feature films. However, the bulk of his work has been in television. He was a major character in the 1996–97 television series "The Burning Zone", appearing in eleven of its nineteen episodes.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2005 and 2006, Morgan simultaneously appeared in three television series: in the CW series "Supernatural" as John Winchester, in a recurring role on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" as heart transplant patient Denny Duquette, and as Judah Botwin in two episodes of the Showtime series "Weeds". He has also guest-starred in a number of television series, including "ER", "JAG", "Walker, Texas Ranger", "Angel", "", "Sliders", "The O.C." and "Monk". In 2007, Morgan was cast in a proposed project by "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes. The series, tentatively titled "Correspondents", was to have started production in summer 2007. ABC instead picked up a spin-off of "Grey's Anatomy", called "Private Practice", that was also created by Rhimes. As a result, "Correspondents" was shelved.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2007, Morgan starred in the film "The Accidental Husband", which finished filming in March 2007 and was released on DVD in 2009.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Morgan starred in the thriller "The Resident" in 2011. He also appeared in the drama film "Days of Wrath" in 2008.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2009, Morgan portrayed The Comedian, a cigar-chomping antihero in "Watchmen", based on Alan Moore's graphic novel. In the same year, Morgan appeared in "Taking Woodstock", and played Clay in a comic book film adaptation of "The Losers". He also played Jeb Turnbull in the DC comic book film "Jonah Hex".


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Morgan appeared in the crime thriller "Texas Killing Fields" as a homicide detective in 2011. The following year, Morgan starred in the television drama series "Magic City", which centered on mob life in 1950s Miami. The same year, Morgan starred in the horror-thriller "The Possession", and had a supporting role in the war film "Red Dawn".


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2014, Morgan played Charlie Peters, the owner of the Cake House, in the season finale of "Shameless".


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In November 2014, Morgan was cast as Joe DiMaggio opposite Kelli Garner as Marilyn Monroe in "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe", a Lifetime four-hour miniseries based on J. Randy Taraborrelli's book of the same name.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2015, Morgan portrayed Deaf Smith in "Texas Rising", a five-part mini-series which aired on the History Channel. Also in 2015, Morgan became a regular cast member for season 2 of the CBS sci-fi drama "Extant". He appeared in an uncredited role in "", as Bruce Wayne's father, Thomas Wayne.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2015, Morgan took on the role of freelance investigator Jason Crouse, opposite Julianna Margulies, in the CBS TV series "The Good Wife", until that series concluded in the spring of 2016. That year Morgan began his most noted role to date, as Negan on the AMC TV series "The Walking Dead". He made his first appearance in the sixth-season finale on April 3, 2016, serving as the primary antagonist of the seventh and eighth seasons and later an anti-hero since the ninth season. He later lent his voice to the character when he was added as DLC in the fighting game "Tekken 7". In 2015, he had a lead role in Jonás Cuarón's thriller film "Desierto".


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: On May 28, 2017, Morgan drove the 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Pace Car to lead the starting field of the 101st Indianapolis 500. In September, Morgan appeared in a commercial for the online game "Evony".


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Morgan reprised his role as John Winchester in the thirteenth episode of the fourteenth season of "Supernatural", which was also the 300th episode of the series. It aired on February 7, 2019.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Morgan was married to actress Anya Longwell from 1992 to 2003. In 2007, he was briefly engaged to his former "Weeds" co-star Mary Louise Parker; their engagement ended in April 2008.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2009, actress and producer Sherrie Rose told "Us Weekly" that she had a son with Morgan, born circa 2004–2005.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: In 2009, Morgan began a relationship with actress Hilarie Burton after being set up on a blind date through his "Supernatural" co-star Jensen Ackles and Ackles's wife, Danneel, with whom Burton co-starred on "One Tree Hill". The couple's son was born on March 14, 2010. After 8 years of infertility, their daughter was born on February 16, 2018. On October 5, 2019, the couple got married, although many erroneously speculated they had married in 2014.


title: Jeffrey Dean Morgan

text: Morgan and Burton have made their home in Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, on a 100-acre working farm in the Hudson Valley with cows, ducks, chickens, alpacas, donkeys, and an emu. Since 2014, they have been co-owners (along with Morgan's friend, actor Paul Rudd) of Samuel's Sweet Shop, a Rhinebeck candy store they saved from being closed after the previous owner, a friend of theirs, died suddenly.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, appearing in various independent and arthouse films. Her accolades include a Pasinetti Award, one Academy Award nomination, one Golden Globe nomination, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: The daughter of character actor Geoffrey Lewis, Lewis began her career in television at age 14 before making her feature film debut with a small part in "My Stepmother Is an Alien" (1988). This was followed by a more prominent role as Audrey Griswold in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989). She then garnered international notice for her portrayal of Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese's remake of "Cape Fear" (1991), which saw Lewis nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the Golden Globe in the same category.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Following the success of "Cape Fear", Lewis had supporting roles in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives" (1992), "Kalifornia" (1993), and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993). She gained further attention for her lead role as Mallory Knox in Oliver Stone's controversial crime film "Natural Born Killers" (1994), which earned her the Pasinetti Award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. Subsequent roles included Kathryn Bigelow's "Strange Days" (1995), "The Basketball Diaries" (1995), Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996), "The Other Sister" (1999), and "The Way of the Gun" (2000).


title: Juliette Lewis

text: The 2000s saw Lewis appearing in a series of supporting parts in independent features and studio films, and in 2003 she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress for the television film "Hysterical Blindness" (2002). She went on to appear in comedies such as "Old School" (2003) and "Starsky & Hutch" (2004), and embarked on a musical career in 2003, forming the rock band Juliette and the Licks. Since 2009, she has been releasing material as a solo artist. Subsequent film roles have included "Whip It" (2009), "Conviction" (2010), "The Switch" (2010), "" (2013), and "Ma" (2019). Since the mid-to-late 2010s, Lewis has worked more frequently in television, appearing in lead roles in series such as "The Firm" (2012), "Wayward Pines" (2015), "Secrets and Lies" (2015–2016), "The Act" (2019), "Yellowjackets" (2021–present) and as "Denise" in the Hulu miniseries, "Welcome to Chippendales" (2022).


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Juliette Lake Lewis was born June 21, 1973, in Los Angeles, California, to actor Geoffrey Lewis and his first wife, Glenis ( Duggan) Batley, a graphic designer. She has seven siblings or half-siblings including Lightfield (an actor who appeared in "The New WKRP in Cincinnati"), Peter, Miles, Matthew, Brandy, Hannah, and Dierdre. She also has a step-sister, Emily Colombier.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: When she was two years old, Lewis's parents divorced, and she spent her childhood living between both their homes in the Los Angeles area. Her first on-screen appearance was an uncredited bit part in "Bronco Billy" (1980), in which her father played a supporting role.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis made her first major screen appearance in the television film "Home Fires" (1987). Howard Rosenberg of the "Los Angeles Times" praised Lewis's performance in the film, writing that she "lights up the screen." She subsequently starred on the television series "I Married Dora", which ran between 1987 and 1988. At age 14, she was legally emancipated from her parents (with their approval) in order to enable her to more freely work. Lewis recalled her emancipation: "I know that sounds all radical, but when you start acting when you’re younger, you talk to other actor kids and their moms, and they’re like, 'Yeah, if you want to get a job, they like on your resume to say emancipated minor versus minor, because you then can work over eight hours.'" For a brief period, Lewis lived with actress Karen Black, who was a mentor to her. At age 15, Lewis dropped out of high school.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: She subsequently had a minor part in the science fiction comedy "My Stepmother Is an Alien" (1988), before landing her first major supporting role as Audrey Griswold in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989). She followed this with roles in the dystopian film "Meet the Hollowheads", and the comedy "The Runnin' Kind" (both 1989). The same year, Lewis had a guest-starring role as Wayne's girlfriend, Delores, on the series "The Wonder Years".


title: Juliette Lewis

text: In 1990, Lewis co-starred with Brad Pitt in the Lifetime television film "Too Young to Die?", a crime film loosely based on the case of Attina Marie Cannaday, playing a troubled young woman who falls into a world of prostitution and drugs. During this period, Lewis herself was met with legal trouble after entering a bar at age 16, for which she was arrested and charged with underage drinking.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis first garnered international attention and acclaim for her performance as Danielle Bowden, the daughter of a family targeted by psychopathic criminal Max Cady (Robert De Niro), in Martin Scorsese's remake of "Cape Fear" (1991), also starring Jessica Lange and Nick Nolte. Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" lauded her performance, writing: "Though Danielle recognizes Max, she is willingly implicated in his scheme. It is one of Mr. De Niro's finest moments. It also reveals Miss Lewis to be a new young actress of stunning possibilities. The sequence is the heart of the movie." Lewis garnered critical acclaim for her performance, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Retrospectively, her character's seduction sequence was named one of the most unforgettable scenes in film history by "Entertainment Weekly" and "Complex".


title: Juliette Lewis

text: In 1992, she had a supporting role as a college student in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives", followed by "That Night", a coming-of-age drama set in the 1960s that marked the feature film debuts of Katherine Heigl and Eliza Dushku. Lewis appeared in several films in 1993, including Peter Medak's neo-noir "Romeo Is Bleeding", in which she played the mistress of a corrupt cop, played by Gary Oldman. She then reunited with former co-star Brad Pitt in the thriller "Kalifornia", in which she starred as a childlike woman whose boyfriend is a serial killer. Critic Roger Ebert deemed Lewis's performance in the latter film one "of the most harrowing and convincing performances I've ever seen." At the time of filming "Kalifornia", Lewis and Pitt had been in a relationship since 1990, though they separated the year of the film's release. She subsequently co-starred with Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio in the Lasse Hallström-directed drama "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993), portraying a free-spirited woman who befriends a young man and his mentally disabled brother in a small Iowa town. Lewis also appeared in the video for the Melissa Etheridge song “Come to My Window,” (1993), portraying a mental patient.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis then portrayed Mallory Knox, a murderous woman who embarks on a killing spree with her psychotic lover Mickey (Woody Harrelson), in Oliver Stone's controversial satirical crime film "Natural Born Killers" (1994). Though the film was criticized for its graphic violence and inspiring of copycat crimes, Lewis's performance was praised as "sensational" by critic Peter Travers, and won her the Pasinetti Award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. The same year, she had a supporting role opposite Steve Martin in Nora Ephron's Christmas-themed comedy "Mixed Nuts". Lewis subsequently played a rock singer in Kathryn Bigelow's science fiction film "Strange Days" (1995), doing her own singing on covers of two songs written by PJ Harvey. Though a major box-office failure, "Strange Days" went on to develop a cult following in subsequent years. Lewis also reunited with her "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" co-star DiCaprio, appearing with him in a supporting role in the crime drama "The Basketball Diaries" (1995). This same year, at age 22, Lewis entered drug rehabilitation, having been addicted to cocaine and prescription medication for several years, and completed the Narconon program within the Church of Scientology.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: The following year, Lewis had a leading role in "The Evening Star" (1996), a flop sequel to "Terms of Endearment" (1983), opposite Shirley MacLaine and Bill Paxton. She also appeared in Robert Rodriguez's action horror film "From Dusk till Dawn" (1996). In the film, written by and co-starring Quentin Tarantino, Lewis portrayed a teenage girl who is kidnapped, along with her family, by bank robbers who take them to a bar in rural Mexico inhabited by vampires. Lewis next appeared in "Some Girl" (1998), followed by "The Other Sister" (1999), in which she portrayed a mentally challenged young woman in San Francisco attempting to find independence. The film received largely unfavorable reviews, though Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" praised it as "beautifully acted...  Carla is played by Ms. Lewis with enormous heart and sensitivity, and with body language so precise that you soon forget it is a performance." In September 1999, Lewis married professional skateboarder Steve Berra.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: In 2000, Lewis starred opposite Benicio del Toro in the thriller "The Way of the Gun", and was featured as a vocalist on the track "Bad Brother" by the band The Infidels, from "" soundtrack album, released on April that year. She then appeared in the crime film "Picture Claire" (2001), opposite Gina Gershon, followed by the independent lesbian-themed drama "Gaudi Afternoon" (2001), co-starring with Judy Davis and Lili Taylor. The film received unfavorable reviews, with A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" writing that both Taylor and Lewis "overact like second-string sketch performers on "Saturday Night Live"." Lewis subsequently had a supporting role in the drama "Enough" (2002), playing the friend of a battered woman (played by Jennifer Lopez).


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her performance in the television film "Hysterical Blindness" (2002), in which starred opposite Uma Thurman and Gena Rowlands as the friend of a woman in 1980s New Jersey who receives a psychiatric diagnosis. Additionally, she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female. Next, Lewis had a supporting role as the lover of an unstable man (Stephen Dorff) terrorizing a family in the thriller "Cold Creek Manor" (2003). She also appeared in the HIM music video for "Buried Alive By Love" in 2003, and had a supporting part in the comedy "Old School". In April 2003, Lewis filed for divorce from husband Berra after approximately three years of marriage. Lewis described the divorce as "amicable," and later commented: "Steve would be the first to admit he was a workaholic. You have to be ready to have a partnership. And sometimes you’re like, 'Whoa, this is too much. I only actually have enough steam to focus on my own thing.'"


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Beginning in 2003, Lewis embarked on a musical career, forming the rock band Juliette and the Licks with former Hole drummer Patty Schemel. The band released their debut EP, "...Like a Bolt of Lightning", in late 2004 through Fiddler Records. She also appeared as a guest vocalist on three tracks by electronic music group The Prodigy's album "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" (also released in 2004). The same year, Lewis appeared in the comedy film "Starsky & Hutch", playing the role of Kitty, as Reese Feldman's girlfriend, and had a supporting part in the Jan Kounen's French futuristic Western film "Blueberry" opposite Vincent Cassel. She subsequently appeared in the Johnny Knoxville-led comedy "Daltry Calhoun" (2005), playing the girlfriend of a Tennessee entrepreneur, and in the drama "Aurora Borealis" (also 2005), playing the live-in assistant of an elderly couple (played by Donald Sutherland and Louise Fletcher). In May 2005, Juliette and the Licks released their debut studio album, "You're Speaking My Language" The band toured internationally in support of the album, and received a favorable concert review from "The Guardian"s David Peschek, who wrote that Lewis is "exactly the kind of iconic presence that boringly boy-saturated rock needs. The Licks–they are very definitely a band, not just the star and some flunkies–are fantastic."


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis had a supporting part in the 2006-released "The Darwin Awards", an independent comedy starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes, followed by "Catch and Release", a romantic comedy that premiered at the Austin Film Festival in October 2006. The same year, Juliette and the Licks recorded their second studio album, "Four on the Floor", which featured drumming by Dave Grohl, and was released in 2007. In 2006, "Blender" magazine included Lewis in their hottest women of rock music list. In 2008, Lewis appeared in Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto IV", providing the voice of "Juliette", the host of fictional radio station "Radio Broker", along with one of her own songs "Inside The Cage (David Gilmour Girls Remix)". Lewis had a featured role in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut "Whip It!" (2009), about a female roller derby player, and also provided voice work for the animated science fiction film "Metropia" (also 2009), directed by Tarik Saleh. The same year, Lewis released her first solo studio album, titled "Terra Incognita", through The End Records.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: In 2010, Lewis starred in a number of films, first appearing in Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut "Sympathy for Delicious", about a paralyzed disc jockey, followed by the comedy "The Switch" (2010), in which she appeared as the friend of a woman trying to conceive a child through artificial insemination (played by Jennifer Aniston). She also appeared as a murder witness in the biographical crime film "Conviction", starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell. Though only featured in a small portion of the film, "The Wall Street Journal" deemed Lewis a "scene-stealer," and she subsequently won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award Best Supporting Actress. Additionally, Lewis had a role in Todd Phillips's black comedy "Due Date", reprising her role of Heidi in "Old School" (2003).


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis's first film in 2011 was the independent drama "Hick", in which she starred as the alcoholic mother of a young girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) in 1980s Nebraska. She subsequently had a minor role in the Canadian drama "Foreverland". She followed this with the thriller "Open Road" with Camilla Belle, and a starring role in the short-lived series "The Firm", on NBC as Tammy, assistant to lead character Mitch McDeere (Josh Lucas). Next, Lewis had a central role in the dramedy film "" (2013), playing one of several sisters (opposite Julia Roberts and Julianne Nicholson) who reunite with their dysfunctional mother (Meryl Streep) at their familial Oklahoma home after their father commits suicide. An adaptation of Tracy Letts's play of the same name, "August: Osage County" was a box-office success, grossing $37 million in the United States.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis was also engaged in musical projects in 2013, contributing backing vocals to the track "Saint of Impossible Causes", on Joseph Arthur's tenth studio album, "The Ballad of Boogie Christ". She also appeared in the music video for "City of Angels" by Thirty Seconds to Mars.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: In 2014, Lewis had a lead role opposite Aaron Paul in the drama "Hellion", as well as the independent comedy "Kelly & Cal", in which Lewis portrayed a former punk-turned-suburban housewife. Lewis subsequent had a lead role as a music producer in "Jem and the Holograms" (2015), a film adaptation of the 1980s animated series "Jem". The film was a box-office bomb, and received largely negative response from both critics and fans of the television series. Lewis followed this with a lead role as a small-town detective on the ABC crime series "Secrets and Lies", which aired two seasons. She also had a recurring guest role in the first season of the science fiction mystery series "Wayward Pines" (2015), co-starring with Matt Dillon. Also in 2015, Lewis contributed vocals to the song "Stickup" by electronic artists Karma Fields & Morten, which was released on Monstercat in November that year. Lewis had a supporting role in the techno thriller film "Nerve" (2016), starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco, about an online video game.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: In November 2016, Lewis returned to music with her first solo EP, "Future Deep", which she released independently, marking her first musical project in seven years. She described the EP as "an eclectic bunch of songs tinged with the darkest blues, contagious 60s garage rock and dance funk anthems." Lewis subsequently guest-starred on season two of the comedy series "Graves" (2017), and then appeared as a reiki healer on the comedy series "Camping" (2018), co-starring with Jennifer Garner, David Tennant, and Ione Skye, adapted from the British series of the same name. Judy Berman of "Time" magazine gave the series an unfavorable review, writing that Lewis is "underutilized, as usual."


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Also in 2018, Lewis appeared in the independent drama film "Back Roads", about a young man trapped by circumstance in rural Pennsylvania after his mother (played by Lewis) murders his father. She was also cast in a supporting role in Sam Taylor-Johnson's "A Million Little Pieces", adapted from the book of the same name by James Frey. In late 2018, Lewis was cast in the premiere season of "The Conners", a spin-off of "Roseanne", playing Blue, girlfriend of Darlene Conner's ex-husband David Healy. Lewis subsequently appeared in Tate Taylor's psychological horror film "Ma" (2019), playing the mother of one of several teenagers who grow close to a disturbed woman (Octavia Spencer) in their neighborhood. "Ma" was a box-office success, grossing over $60 million worldwide, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Thriller Film. Lewis had a guest role on Hulu's biographical crime series "The Act", chronicling the life of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and the murder of her mother, which premiered in March 2019.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis reunited again with Tate Taylor for his upcoming film, "Breaking News in Yuba County", starring Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, and Regina Hall, filmed in the summer of 2019. In 2022, Lewis appeared in the Showtime thriller series, "Yellowjackets".


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis has supported Little Kids Rock, a US nonprofit organization that works to restore and revitalize music education in disadvantaged U.S. public schools, by painting a Fender Strat guitar and donating it to an auction to raise money for the organization.


title: Juliette Lewis

text: Lewis practiced Scientology starting in the 1990s but had ceased involvement by December 2021. Prior to ending her involvement she credited its Narconon program for helping her rehabilitate after a years-long drug addiction in her early adult years. Lewis also identifies as a Christian. Lewis told "Vanity Fair" in 2010:


title: Jenny Slate

text: Jenny Sarah Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, and author. Born and raised in Milton, Massachusetts, Slate was educated at Milton Academy and studied literature at Columbia University, where she became involved in the improv and comedy scene.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Following early acting and stand-up roles on television, Slate gained recognition for her live variety shows in New York City and for co-creating, writing, and producing the children's short film and book series "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" (2010–present). She became known to a mainstream audience after featuring as a cast member on the 35th season of "Saturday Night Live" (2009–2010). Her distinctive voice landed her the role of Tammy Larsen on the critically acclaimed animated sitcom "Bob's Burgers" (2012–present). She gained further recognition for her recurring roles as Mona-Lisa Saperstein on the NBC comedy television series "Parks and Recreation" (2013–2015) and Sarah Guggenheim on the Showtime comedy series "House of Lies" (2013–2015) and for the sketch comedy series "Kroll Show" (2013–2015). From 2017 to 2020, Slate provided the voice for Missy Foreman-Greenwald on the animated Netflix series "Big Mouth". In 2020, Slate handed voiceover duties for Missy to actor Ayo Edebiri as she felt an African-American character should be voiced by an African-American actor. Despite no longer providing the voice for Missy, Slate has continued to voice a number of other various characters on the show.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate's breakout role came with her leading performance in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film "Obvious Child" (2014), for which she won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Independent Film Award. She lent voice performances to the animated films ""The Lorax"" (2012), "Zootopia" (2016), "The Secret Life of Pets" film franchise (2016-2019), "The Lego Batman Movie", and "Despicable Me 3" (both 2017), and she ventured into dramatic roles with her supporting performance as Bonnie in "Gifted" (2017). She also appeared in the critically acclaimed science-fiction film "Everything Everywhere All At Once".


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate was born on March 25, 1982, in Milton, Massachusetts, to Ron Slate, a businessman and poet who worked as vice president of global communications for the EMC Corporation and later as CEO of a biotech startup, and Nancy (née Gilson), a housewife who also made pottery. She is the middle child of three, with an older sister, Abigail, and younger sister, Stacey. She and her family are Jewish. One of her grandmothers was born in Cuba and was raised in France. After graduating from Milton Academy as the valedictorian, Slate attended Columbia University as a literature major, where she helped form the improv group Fruit Paunch, starred in the Varsity Show and met Gabe Liedman, who would become her comedy partner. Slate graduated from Columbia in 2004.


title: Jenny Slate

text: She and Gabe Liedman formed the comedy duo Gabe & Jenny. Their stand-up shows with Max Silvestri, ""Big Terrific,"" were named best new variety show of 2008 by "Time Out New York". In 2015, Slate, Liedman, and Silvestri ended the show, citing their busy schedules, though they have since occasionally performed together.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate first met Liedman in 2000 while attending Columbia University. They describe their relationship as a "nonsexual romance"; Slate says, "I like to think of us as kind of like Elaine Benes and George Costanza, but we like each other." Throughout 2008 and 2009, Slate regularly performed her one-woman show titled "Jenny Slate: Dead Millionaire" at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCBT) in New York City.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate was a regular commentator on many VH1 "talking head" commentary programs. In early 2009, she had made several appearances on the "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" recurring sketch "7th Floor West", where she played an NBC page also named Jenny, who was later promoted to Fallon's assistant. She had a recurring role in "Bored to Death". Slate's guest appearances on television programs include "Bob's Burgers", "Girls", "The Whitest Kids U' Know", "Important Things with Demetri Martin" and "Raising Hope".


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" for the 2009-10 season. In her first episode, she accidentally said "fucking" during her debut sketch "Biker Chick Chat", which was heard on the live broadcast, but removed from reruns. In various sketches, she impersonated Hoda Kotb, Lady Gaga, Kristen Stewart, Ashley Olsen, and Olympia Snowe. She was best known for Tina-Tina Cheneuse, an infomercial pitchwoman who advertises personalized doorbells, car horns, and alarm clocks. Slate's contract was not renewed for another season. Despite rumors to the contrary, Slate has insisted that her "SNL" termination was not due to cursing but rather simply because "I didn't click."


title: Jenny Slate

text: In August 2010, she co-wrote and voiced the animated short film "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On", which garnered viral success. This led to "Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, Two". Slate also wrote a "Marcel"-themed children's book that was released on November 1, 2011. Her first major film role was as Zoe in ""; more films followed in 2012, including the voice of Ted's mother in "The Lorax".


title: Jenny Slate

text: Her first appearance in "Parks and Recreation" was in the 2013 episode "Bailout", in which she portrayed Mona-Lisa Saperstein. Following her success on the NBC show, Slate released and starred in a 12-episode mini-series on YouTube called "Catherine", celebrating late 1980s and early 1990s soap-opera aesthetics. On July 23, 2013, she appeared in "Drunk History" retelling the history of how Coca-Cola was made.


title: Jenny Slate

text: In 2014, Slate starred in the comedy-drama film "Obvious Child", which follows the life of a young stand-up comic as she grapples with an unplanned pregnancy and eventual abortion. Slate went on to win the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy, Best Breakout Performance at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Virtuosos Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and Best Comedic Actress at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards for her performance in the film.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate co-starred with Judy Greer and Nat Faxon in the first season of the FX series "Married". She left the series as a series regular in season two, but still appeared in a few episodes. Sarah Burns took her place in the series.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate appeared as Liz B. in the recurring "PubLIZity" sketches in "Kroll Show", as well as many other recurring and one-off characters, performing in some capacity in almost every episode until the series ended in 2015. In 2016, Slate voiced Dawn Bellwether in the Disney animated comedy-adventure film "Zootopia" and Gidget in the animated feature "The Secret Life of Pets".


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate and her father co-wrote a book titled "About the House" about their time living in Slate's childhood home in Milton, Massachusetts, which was published in December 2016.


title: Jenny Slate

text: In 2017, Slate starred in the film "Gifted" as Bonnie Stevenson, the teacher of a 7-year-old mathematical genius.


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate published her book titled "Little Weirds", about her struggles with and thoughts about life and relationships, in 2019.


title: Jenny Slate

text: From 2017 until 2019, Slate voiced the biracial character Missy Foreman-Greenwald on the animated Netflix series "Big Mouth". Slate exited the role on June 24, 2020, writing on Instagram that "At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play Missy because her mom is Jewish and White — as am I. But Missy is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people."


title: Jenny Slate

text: Slate lived in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, before moving with filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp to Los Angeles in the early 2010s. In September 2012, Slate married Fleischer-Camp. They collaborated on the "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On", on both the books and the short films. The pair announced their separation in May 2016. She dated actor Chris Evans for a brief period.


title: Jenny Slate

text: In September 2019, Slate announced her engagement to art curator Ben Shattuck. On December 10, 2020, Slate revealed on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" that she was expecting her first child with Shattuck. On February 3, 2021, Slate appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and announced she gave birth to a daughter six weeks prior. Shattuck and Slate married in their living room on New Year's Eve 2021, their fourth attempt at a wedding after the first three were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following his first commercial video game release, "ZZT" (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. Moving their headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio's name was simplified to Epic Games.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games develops Unreal Engine, a commercially available game engine which also powers their internally developed video games, such as "Fortnite" and the "Unreal", "Gears of War" and "Infinity Blade" series. In 2014, Unreal Engine was named the "most successful videogame engine" by "Guinness World Records".


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games owns the game developers Chair Entertainment, Psyonix, Mediatonic and Harmonix, as well as cloud-based software developer Cloudgine, and operates studios in Seattle, England, Berlin, Yokohama and Seoul. While Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder, Tencent acquired a 48.4% outstanding stake, equating to 40% of total Epic, in the company in 2012, as part of an agreement aimed at moving Epic towards a games as a service model. Following the release of the popular "Fortnite Battle Royale" in 2017, the company gained additional investments that enabled to expand its Unreal Engine offerings, establish esport events around "Fortnite", and launch the Epic Games Store. As of April 2022, the company has a equity valuation.


title: Epic Games

text: On August 13, 2020, Epic released a version of "Fortnite" that included a permanent discount on V-bucks across all platforms, but for those on iOS and Android devices, only if they purchased directly through Epic, bypassing Apple and Google's storefronts. Both Apple and Google immediately delisted the game for violating the storefronts' terms of service by including their own storefront, which led Epic to file lawsuits against both companies the same day, accusing them of antitrust behavior in how they operate their app stores.


title: Epic Games

text: Potomac Computer Systems was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991. At the time, Sweeney was studying mechanical engineering and living in a dorm at the University of Maryland. He frequently visited his parents, who lived in nearby Potomac, Maryland, where his personal computer, used for both work and leisure, was situated. Out of this location, Sweeney started Potomac Computer Systems as a computer consulting business, but later figured that it would be too much work he would have to put into keeping the business stable, and scrapped the idea.


title: Epic Games

text: After finishing his game "ZZT", Sweeney opted to re-use the Potomac Computer Systems name to release the game to the public in January 1991. It was only with the unexpected success of "ZZT", caused in most part by the easy modifiability of the game using Sweeney's custom ZZT-oop programming language, that made Sweeney consider turning Potomac Computer Systems into a video game company. "ZZT" was sold through bulletin board systems, while all orders were fulfilled by Sweeney's father, Paul Sweeney. The game sold several thousand copies as of May 2009, and Paul Sweeney still lived at the former Potomac Computer Systems address at the time, fulfilling all orders that eventually came by mail. The final copy of "ZZT" was shipped by Paul Sweeney in November 2013.


title: Epic Games

text: In early 1992, Sweeney found himself and his new-found video game company in a business where larger studios, such as Apogee Software and id Software, were dominant, and he had to find a more serious name for his. As such, Sweeney came up with "Epic MegaGames", a name which incorporated "Epic" and "Mega" to make it sound like it represented a fairly large company (such as Apogee Software), although he was its only employee. Sweeney soon underwent searching for a business partner, and eventually caught up with Mark Rein, who previously quit his job at id Software and moved to Toronto, Ontario. Rein worked remotely from Toronto, and primarily handled sales, marketing and publishing deals; business development that Sweeney found to have significantly contributed to the company's growth. Some time this season, the company soon had 20 employees consisting of programmers, artists, designers and composers. Among them was the 17-year old Cliff Bleszinski, who joined the company after submitting his game "Dare to Dream" to Sweeney. The following year, they had over 30 employees.


title: Epic Games

text: In 1996, Epic MegaGames produced a shareware isometric shooter called "Fire Fight", developed by Polish studio Chaos Works. It was published by Electronic Arts. By 1997, Epic MegaGames had 50 people working for them worldwide. In 1998, Epic MegaGames released "Unreal", a 3D first-person shooter co-developed with Digital Extremes, which expanded into a series of "Unreal" games. The company also began to license the core technology, the Unreal Engine, to other game developers.


title: Epic Games

text: In February 1999, Epic MegaGames announced that they had moved their headquarters to a new location in Cary, North Carolina, and would henceforth be known as simply Epic Games. Rein explained that ""Unreal" was first created by developers who were scattered across the world, eventually, the team came together to finish the game and that's when the real magic started. The move to North Carolina centralizes Epic, bringing all of the company's talented developers under one roof." Furthermore, Sweeney stated that the "Mega" part of the name was dropped because they no longer wanted to pretend to be a big company, as was the original intention of the name when it was a one-man team. The follow-up game, "Unreal Tournament", shipped to critical acclaim the same year, at which point the studio had 13 employees.


title: Epic Games

text: The company launched the Make Something Unreal competition in 2004, aiming to reward video game developers who create mods using the Unreal game engine. Tripwire Interactive won US$80,000 in cash and computer hardware prizes over the course of the contest in the first contest in 2004.


title: Epic Games

text: Around 2006, the personal computer video game market was struggling with copyright infringement in the form of software piracy, and it became difficult to make single-player games, elements which had been part of Epic's business model to that point. The company decided to shift focus into developing on console systems, a move which Sweeney called the start of the third major iteration of the company, "Epic 3.0". In 2006, Epic released the Xbox 360 shooter "Gears of War", which became a commercial success for the company, grossing about off a budget. A year later, the company released "Unreal Tournament 3" for PC and acquired a majority share in People Can Fly.


title: Epic Games

text: In 2008, Epic Games released "Gears of War 2", selling over three million copies within the first month of its release.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games released on September 1, 2010 Epic Citadel as a tech demo to demonstrate the Unreal Engine 3 running on Apple iOS, within Adobe Flash Player Stage3D and using HTML5 WebGL technologies. It was also released for Android on January 29, 2013. Epic Games worked on an iOS game, "Infinity Blade", which was released on December 9, 2010. The third game in the series, "Gears of War 3", came out in 2011.


title: Epic Games

text: In 2011, Epic's subsidiary Titan Studios was dissolved. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Epic Games announced their new game "Fortnite".


title: Epic Games

text: In June 2012, Epic announced that it is opening up a new studio, Epic Baltimore, made up of members of 38 Studios' Big Huge Games. Epic Baltimore was renamed to Impossible Studios in August 2012. However, the studio ended up closing its doors in February 2013.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic fully acquired People Can Fly in August 2012, rebranding them as Epic Games Poland in November 2013 as they began work on "Fortnite" alongside Epic. Epic alongside People Can Fly made one last game in the "Gears of War" series that served as a prequel to the other games, "", which was released in 2013. At this point, Epic had considered developing a fourth main title for "Gears of War", but estimated that its budget would be at least . Additionally, they had suggested the idea of a multiplayer-only version of "Gears of War" that featured improved versions of maps based on user feedback, similar to the concept behind "Unreal Tournament", but Microsoft rejected this idea. Epic recognized the troubles of being held to the business objectives of a publisher, and began to shift the company again.


title: Epic Games

text: Coupled with their desire to move away from being beholden to a publisher, Epic Games observed that the video game industry was shifting to a games-as-a-service model (GaaS). Sweeney stated "There was an increasing realization that the old model wasn't working anymore and that the new model was looking increasingly like the way to go." In an attempt to gain more GaaS experience, they made an agreement with Chinese Tencent, who had several games under their banner (including Riot Games' "League of Legends") operating successfully as games as a service. In exchange for Tencent's help, Tencent acquired approximately 48.4% of Epic then issued share capital, equating to 40% of total Epic – inclusive of both stock and employee stock options, for $330 million in June 2012. Tencent Holdings has the right to nominate directors to the board of Epic Games and thus counts as an associate of the Group. However, Sweeney stated that Tencent otherwise has very little control on the creative output of Epic Games. Sweeney considered the partial acquisition by Tencent as the start of "Epic 4.0", the fourth major iteration of the company, allowing the company to be more agile in the video game marketplace.


title: Epic Games

text: Around this point, Epic had about 200 employees. A number of high-profile staff left the company months after the Tencent deal was announced for various reasons. Some notable departures included:


title: Epic Games

text: Epic continued on its goal to deliver games as a service following these departures. "Fortnite" was to serve as their testbed for living games, but with the shifts in staff, as well as shifting its engine from Unreal Engine 3 to 4, its release suffered some setback. Epic started additional projects; the free-to-play and community-developed "Unreal Tournament", first announced in 2014, and the free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game "Paragon", launched in 2016 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4. Epic also released a remastered version of "Shadow Complex" for newer consoles and computers in 2015, and their first foray into virtual reality with the release of "Robo Recall" for the Oculus Rift.


title: Epic Games

text: The investment infusion from Tencent allowed Epic Games to relicense the Unreal Engine 4 engine in March 2015 to be free for all users to develop with, with Epic taking 5% royalties on games developed with the engine.


title: Epic Games

text: In June 2015, Epic agreed to allow Epic Games Poland's departure from the company and sold its shares in the studio; the studio reverted to their former name, People Can Fly. The "Bulletstorm" IP was retained by People Can Fly who has since launched a remastered version called "Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition" on April 7, 2017, published by Gearbox Software.


title: Epic Games

text: By July 2017, "Fortnite" was finally in a state for public play. Epic launched the title through a paid early access then, with a full free-to-play release expected in 2018. Following on the popularity of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", a battle royale game released earlier in 2017, Epic developed a variant of "Fortnite" called "Fortnite Battle Royale", which was released in September 2017 as a free-to-play title across computer, console, and mobile platforms. "Fortnite Battle Royale" quickly gained an audience, amassing over 125 million players by May 2018 with estimates of having earned over by July 2018 through microtransactions, including its battle pass system. Epic Games, which had been valued at around at the time of Tencent's acquisition, was estimated to be worth in July 2018 due to "Fortnite Battle Royale", and expected to surpass by the end of 2018 with projected growth of the game. Player count continued to expand when Epic broke new ground by convincing Sony to change its stance on cross-platform play allowing players on any device to compete with each other in "Fortnite Battle Royale". "Fortnite" has drawn nearly 250 million players as of March 2019.


title: Epic Games

text: "Fortnite"s commercial success enabled Epic to make several changes to its other product offerings. In July 2018, it reduced the revenue cut that it took for assets sold on the Unreal Engine Marketplace from 30% to 12%. Epic launched the Epic Games Store digital storefront to compete with services like Steam and GOG.com, not only taking a 12% cut of revenue compared to the industry standard of 30%, but also eliminated the 5% cut for games using the Unreal engine sold via the storefront. However the company also refocused its development efforts to provide more support for Unreal and "Fortnite" by ending support for "Paragon" and "Unreal Tournament".


title: Epic Games

text: The financial success of "Fortnite" brought additional investment into Epic Games. Epic Games was one of eleven companies selected to be part of the Disney Accelerator program in 2017, providing Epic equity investment and access to some of Disney's executives, and potential opportunity to work with Disney in the future. Disney had selected both Epic and aXiomatic as potential leads in the growing esports arena.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic's has used its windfall to support its products. In January 2019, following a dispute between Improbable and Unity Technologies over changes to the acceptable uses of the Unity game engine, Epic announced it was partnering with Improbable to launch a fund to help bring developers they believe affected by these changes towards solutions that are more open and would have fewer service compatibilities. Epic launched a prize pool in February 2019 for "Fortnite"-related esports activities that it plans to run from 2019 onward. To expand its esports initiatives, Epic Games hired Nate Nanzer from Blizzard Entertainment and their commissioner of the Overwatch League in May 2019. At the 2019 Game Developers Conference, Epic announced it was launching a MegaGrants initiative, allowing anyone to apply for up to in funding to support game development using the Unreal Engine or for any project, even if not directly games-related, that would benefit the Unreal Engine. One of the first major funded entities under this was the Blender Foundation in July 2019, having received from the MegaGrants funding, to help them to improve and professionalize their Blender tools for 3D art creation.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games was given the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Special Award in June 2019 for its past and continuing developments for the Unreal Engine, a software which also earned it the Engineering Excellence Award from the Hollywood Professional Association.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic announced in March 2020 it was establishing a new multi-platform publishing label, Epic Games Publishing. Alongside this, the label had announced three deals with developers Remedy Entertainment, Playdead and GenDesign in which Epic would fully fund development and publishing (including employee salaries, quality assurance, localization, and marketing) of one or more games from each studio, but leaving full creative control and IP rights to the studio, and sharing profits, following Epic's recouping of its investment, 50/50 with the studio. The company expanded their publishing options in October 2021 with Spry Fox and Eyes Out.


title: Epic Games

text: Unreal Engine 5 was announced on May 13, 2020, with plans for an early 2022 release. Alongside this announcement, Epic released its Epic Online Services, a free SDK toolset for online matchmaking and other similar cross-platform play support features based on "Fortnite". Epic further waived all Unreal license fees retroactively for games up through the first in revenue, regardless of how they were published, retroactively starting from January 1, 2020.


title: Epic Games

text: "Bloomberg" reported that Epic was nearing a valuation in June 2020 once it had completed a new investing round from its previous investors and newcomings T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Baillie Gifford. The company partnered with Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. to acquire distribution rights for "Inception", "Batman Begins" and "The Prestige" as part of "Movie Nite" on Fortnite's "Party Royale" island. The film livestreams were based on a user's country.


title: Epic Games

text: Across July and August, Epic raised an additional in capital investment, bringing the company's post-money equity valuation to . This included a investment from Sony, approximately a 1.4% stake in the company. The deal continues the two companies' technology collaboration after they had worked together on the development of Unreal Engine 5, but does not commit Epic to any exclusivity to the Sony PlayStation platform. Sweeney said that Sony had started talking with Epic about investing following the demonstration of the Unreal Engine 5 in May 2020.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic purchased Cary Towne Center in Cary, North Carolina, in January 2021, which had been scheduled to be closed and demolished after 2020, to be their new headquarters and campus, with the conversion to be complete by 2024.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic unveiled its MetaHuman Creator project in February 2021. Based on the technology from 3Lateral, Cubic Motion, and Quixel, the MetaHuman Creator is a browser-based application to allow game developers to create realistic human characters within a short amount of time starting from various presets, and then can be exported as pre-made models and animation files ready for use in Unreal Engine.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic announced a partnership with Cesium in March 2021 to bring its 3D geospatial data as a free add-on into the Unreal Engine.


title: Epic Games

text: In April 2021, Epic completed another round of funding to support the company's "long-term vision for the metaverse", putting the company's valuation at . The round of funding included another strategic investment from Sony. Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder with these additional investments.


title: Epic Games

text: The Information reported that Epic Games was launching a new scripted entertainment division in October 2021, bringing on three former executives from Lucasfilm to manage it, with initial plans for a "Fortnite" film.


title: Epic Games

text: In February 2022 Epic Games announced that at least half a billion accounts have been created on its platform.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic released the initial beta version of RealityScan, a mobile app that uses the tools from Capturing Reality and Quixel, in April 2022. RealityScan allows users to create 3D models that can be imported into Sketchfab using photos taken by the user.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic received another $1 billion each from Sony and from Kirkbi, the parent company of The Lego Group, in April 2022 for continued support of building out Epic's metaverse. These investments gave Kirkbi 3% ownership and increased Sony's to 4.9%. With these investments, Epic had an estimated valuation of . Epic and Lego also announced their partnership to build a child-friendly space in the metaverse that same month.


title: Epic Games

text: In 2008, Epic acquired Utah based Chair Entertainment, developer of "Undertow". Summer 2009 saw the launch of Chair's "Shadow Complex", an adventure game inspired by the "Metroid" series.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic announced in October 2018 that it had acquired in investment from seven firms: KKR, ICONIQ Capital, Smash Ventures, aXiomatic, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The firms join Tencent, Disney, and Endeavor as minority shareholders in Epic. With the investment, Epic Games was estimated to have a nearly valuation in October 2018.


title: Epic Games

text: Besides expanding support for "Fortnite" and the Epic Games Store, these investments allowed Epic to acquire additional firms. In January 2018, it was announced that Epic had acquired Cloudgine, a developer of cloud-based gaming software. The company also announced the acquisition of Kamu, a firm that offered anti-cheat software called Easy Anti-Cheat, in October 2018. A year later, in January 2019, Epic acquired 3Lateral and Agog Labs. 3Lateral is known for its "digital human" creations, using a combination of digital technology, motion capture, and other tools to create photo-realistic human subjects in real time. Epic plans to add some of 3Lateral's features to the Unreal Engine. Agog had developed SkookumScript, a platform for scripting events in video games; on announcement of this acquisition, Agog stated they will stop development of SkookumScript to work more on Unreal Engine scripting support.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic acquired Psyonix, the developer of "Rocket League", in May 2019. Epic and Psyonix have had a past history, as Psyonix was originally founded a few miles from Epic's headquarters and had contributed to Epic's "Unreal Tournament". Epic acquired the Twinmotion visualization tool used in architectural design in May 2019 from Abvent, and which they plan to expand and incorporate into their Unreal Engine offerings. Epic acquired Life on Air, the developers behind "Houseparty", a social networking service, in June 2019. The monetary terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Epic later shuttered Houseparty's app in October 2021, though the team behind it was continuing to develop social apps for Epic's platforms.


title: Epic Games

text: In November 2019, Epic acquired Quixel, the world's largest photogrammetry asset library which makes 3D models of objects based on real-world high-definition photography. Epic plans to open Quixel's existing library of models to users of Unreal Engine, while the Quixel staff will continue to build out its assets within Epic. The company acquired Cubic Motion, a studio that provides highly detailed digital facial animations for both films and video games, in March 2020.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic acquired SuperAwesome, a firm that has developed services to support children-safe games and services around games, in September 2020, as to incorporate these elements more into Epic's portfolio and to offer to other developers, particularly for games built around Epic's vision of metaverse games.


title: Epic Games

text: In January 2021, Epic acquired RAD Game Tools, a company that makes a variety of middleware solutions for video game development which Epic plans to incorporate into the Unreal Engine. RAD's tools will still remain available outside of Unreal as well.


title: Epic Games

text: In March 2021, Epic announced it was acquiring the Tonic Games Group, which includes developers Mediatonic and Fortitude Games. Mediatonic's "Fall Guys", a major success during 2020, would remain available on Steam while Epic would help to bring it to additional platforms. Epic buying Tonic Games Group falls under the company’s broader plans of creating its own metaverse. Additionally in March, Epic acquired Capturing Reality, the developers of RealityCapture, a photogrammetry suite that can create 3D models from numerous photographs. Epic plans to integrate RealityCapture into the Unreal Engine.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games acquired ArtStation, a professional artists' marketplace, in April 2021. As part of the acquisition, ArtStation members would gain access to Epic's tools and support such as the Unreal Engine, while the ArtStation marketplace will reduce its take on purchases from 30% to 12%. In July 2021, Epic acquired Sketchfab, a marketplace for 3D models. As with ArtStation, the acquisition allowed Sketchfab to reduce their pricing structure, lowering their revenue cut on purchases to 12% and making their Sketchfab Plus level of membership free.


title: Epic Games

text: In November 2021, Epic Games acquired Harmonix, a music game developer, for undisclosed terms. Harmonix will continue to support their existing games including "Rock Band 4" and "Fuser" and will help Epic with expanding musical experiences and gameplay within "Fortnite" and Epic's larger metaverse plans.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic acquired the indie music platform Bandcamp in March 2022. Bandcamp is expected to remain independently operated under Epic but will gain benefits of Epic's backend services.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Games is known for games such as "ZZT" developed by founder Tim Sweeney, various shareware titles including "Jazz Jackrabbit" and "Epic Pinball", the "Unreal" video game series, which is used as a showcase for its Unreal Engine, the "Gears of War" series which is now owned by The Coalition and Xbox Game Studios, "Infinity Blade", "Shadow Complex", "Bulletstorm", and "Fortnite".


title: Epic Games

text: Epic is the proprietor of four successful game engines in the video game industry. Each Unreal Engine has a complete feature set of graphical rendering, sound processing, and physics that can be widely adapted to fit the specific needs of a game developer that does not want to code its own engine from scratch. The five engines Epic has created are the Unreal Engine 1, Unreal Engine 2 (including its 2.5 and 2.X releases), Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Engine 4 and the Unreal Engine 5. Epic also provides support to the Unreal marketplace, a digital storefront for creators to sell Unreal assets to other developers. Further, since 2019, Epic has provided support for filmmakers which have utilized the Unreal Engine to create virtual sets for productions such as "The Mandalorian", and will be backing major animated feature film production using Unreal, starting with "Gilgamesh" with studios Hook Up, DuermeVela and FilmSharks.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic announced its own Epic Games Store, an open digital storefront for games, on December 4, 2018, which launched a few days later with The Game Awards 2018 presentation. Differing from Valve's Steam storefront, which takes 30% of revenues (30/70 revenue-sharing agreement) from the sale of a game, the Epic Game Store will take 12%, as well as foregoing the 5% for games developed in the Unreal Engine, anticipating that these lower revenue-sharing agreements will draw developers to it.


title: Epic Games

text: Epic Online Services is a free SDK based on Epic's "Fortnite" code that allows developers to implement cross-platform play features in their games, including matchmaking, friends lists, leaderboards, and achievements, with support for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android systems. It was first released for all in May 2020. Support for anti-cheat and voice chat was added in June 2021.


title: Epic Games

text: On July 19, 2007, Canadian game studio Silicon Knights sued Epic Games for failure to "provide a working game engine", causing the Ontario-based game developer to "experience considerable losses". The suit alleged that Epic Games was "sabotaging" Unreal Engine 3 licensees. Epic's licensing document stated that a working version of the engine would be available within six months of the Xbox 360 developer kits being released. Silicon Knights claimed that Epic not only missed this deadline, but that when a working version of the engine was eventually released, the documentation was insufficient. The game studio also claimed Epic had withheld vital improvements to the game engine, claiming they were game-specific, while also using licensing fees to fund the development of its own titles rather than the engine itself.


title: Epic Games

text: In August 2007, Epic Games counter-sued Silicon Knights, alleging the studio was aware when it signed on that certain features of Unreal Engine 3 were still in development and that components would continue to be developed and added as Epic completed work on "Gears of War". Therefore, in a statement, Epic said that "SK knew when it committed to the licensing agreement that Unreal Engine 3 may not meet its requirements and may not be modified to meet them". Additionally, the counter-suit claimed that Silicon Knights had "made unauthorized use of Epic's Licensed Technology" and had "infringed and otherwise violated Epic's intellectual property rights, including Epic's copyrighted works, trade secrets, know how and confidential information" by incorporating Unreal Engine 3 code into its own engine, the Silicon Knights Engine. Furthermore, Epic asserted the Canadian developer broke the contract when it employed this derivative work in an internal title and a second game with Sega, a partnership for which it never received a license fee.


title: Epic Games

text: On May 30, 2012, Epic Games defeated Silicon Knights' lawsuit, and won its counter-suit for $4.45 million on grounds of copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of contract, an injury award that was later doubled due to prejudgment interest, attorneys' fees and costs. Consistent with Epic's counterclaims, the presiding judge, James C. Dever III, stated that Silicon Knights had "deliberately and repeatedly copied thousands of lines of Epic Games' copyrighted code, and then attempted to conceal its wrongdoing by removing Epic Games' copyright notices and by disguising Epic Games' copyrighted code as Silicon Knights' own". Dever stated that evidence against Silicon Knights was "overwhelming", as it not only copied functional code but also "non-functional, internal comments Epic Games' programmers had left for themselves".


title: Epic Games

text: As a result, on November 7, 2012, Silicon Knights was directed by the court to destroy all game code derived from Unreal Engine 3, all information from licensee-restricted areas of Epic's Unreal Engine documentation website, and to permit Epic Games access to the company's servers and other devices to ensure these items have been removed. In addition, the studio was instructed to recall and destroy all unsold retail copies of games built with Unreal Engine 3 code, including "Too Human", "X-Men Destiny", "The Sandman", "The Box"/"Ritualyst", and "Siren in the Maelstrom" (the latter three titles were projects never released, or even officially announced).


title: Epic Games

text: On May 16, 2014, Silicon Knights filed for bankruptcy and a Certificate of Appointment was issued by the office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, with Collins Barrow Toronto Limited being appointed as trustee in bankruptcy.


title: Epic Games

text: Since as early as 2017, Tim Sweeney had questioned the need for digital storefronts like Valve's Steam, Apple's iOS App Store, and Google Play, to take a 30% revenue sharing cut, and argued that when accounting for current rates of content distribution and other factors needed, a revenue cut of 8% should be sufficient to run any digital storefront profitably. When Epic brought "Fortnite Battle Royale" to mobile devices, the company initially offered a sideloaded package for Android systems to bypass the Google Play store, but eventually also made it a store app.


title: Epic Games

text: On August 13, 2020, Epic Games updated "Fortnite" across all platforms, including the iOS and Android versions, to reduce the price of "V-Bucks" (the in-game currency) by 20% if they purchased directly from Epic. For iOS and Android users, if they purchased through the Apple or Google storefront, they were not given this discount, as Epic said they could not extend the discount due to the 30% revenue cut taken by Apple and Google. Within hours, both Apple and Google had removed "Fortnite" from their storefronts stating the means of bypassing their payment systems violated the terms of service. Epic immediately filed separate lawsuits against Apple and Google for antitrust and anticompetitive behavior in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Epic did not seek monetary damages in either case but instead was "seeking injunctive relief to allow fair competition in these two key markets that directly affect hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of thousands, if not more, of third-party app developers." In comments on social media the next day, Sweeney said that they undertook the actions as "we're fighting for the freedom of people who bought smartphones to install apps from sources of their choosing, the freedom for creators of apps to distribute them as they choose, and the freedom of both groups to do business directly. The primary opposing argument is: 'Smartphone markers [sic] can do whatever they want.' This as an awful notion. We all have rights, and we need to fight to defend our rights against whoever would deny them."


title: Epic Games

text: Apple responded to the lawsuit that it would terminate Epic's developer accounts by August 28, 2020, leading Epic to file a motion for a preliminary injunction to force Apple to return "Fortnite" to the App Store and prevent them from terminating Epic's developer accounts, as the latter action would leave Epic unable to update the Unreal Engine for any changes to iOS or macOS and leave developers that relied on Unreal at risk. The court granted the preliminary injunction against Apple from terminating the developer accounts as Epic had shown "potential significant damage to both the Unreal Engine platform itself, and to the gaming industry generally", but refused to grant the injunction related to "Fortnite" as "The current predicament appears of [Epic's] own making." In September 2020, Epic Games, together with thirteen other companies, launched the Coalition for App Fairness, which aimed for better conditions for the inclusion of apps into app stores.


title: Epic Games

text: Judge Rogers issued her first ruling on Epic Games v. Apple on September 10, 2021. Rogers found in favor of Apple on nine of ten counts brought up against them in the case, including Epic's charges related to Apple's 30% revenue cut and Apple's prohibition against third-party marketplaces on the iOS environment. Rogers did rule against Apple on the final charge related to anti-steering provisions, and issued a permanent injunction that, in 90 days from the ruling, blocked Apple from preventing developers from linking app users to other storefronts from within apps to complete purchases or from collecting information within an app, such as an email, to notify users of these storefronts.


title: Epic Games

text: In December 2022, Epic Games was fined a combined $520 million after the Federal Trade Commission accused the company of separate accounts related to "Fortnite", one for violating COPPA related to children's privacy by collecting personal data without parent or guardian consent, exposing children and teens to potential harassment, and a second related to misleading users into making unwanted purchases while playing the game. Epic Games said "No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here. The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players. Over the past few years, we’ve been making changes to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry."


title: Epic Games

text: Since the partial investment by the Chinese company Tencent, some consumers have become wary of Epic Games' reliability and use of their data, particularly in relationship with the Epic Games Store. These concerns have been connected to broader issues of general distrust of the Chinese government and Chinese corporations among some Western video game players. Epic has stated that Tencent does not have access to any of this private data nor provides this to the Chinese government.


title: Epic Games

text: In late March 2020, accusations began circulating on social media that the Epic Games social networking app "Houseparty" led to other services such as Netflix and Spotify being hacked. However, both Epic and Life on Air claimed this was a smear campaign against its product and offered a bounty for anyone able to substantiate their claim.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 29, 2015. Windows 10 was made available for download via MSDN and TechNet, as a free upgrade for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users via the Windows Store, and to Windows 7 users via Windows Update. Windows 10 receives new builds on an ongoing basis, which are available at no additional cost to users, in addition to additional test builds of Windows 10, which are available to Windows Insiders. Devices in enterprise environments can receive these updates at a slower pace, or use long-term support milestones that only receive critical updates, such as security patches, over their ten-year lifespan of extended support. In June 2021, Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 editions which are not in the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) will end on October 14, 2025.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 received generally positive reviews upon its original release. Critics praised Microsoft's decision to provide the desktop-oriented interface in line with previous versions of Windows, contrasting the tablet-oriented approach of Windows 8, although Windows 10's touch-oriented user interface mode was criticized for containing regressions upon the touch-oriented interface of its predecessor. Critics also praised the improvements to Windows 10's bundled software over Windows 8.1, Xbox Live integration, as well as the functionality and capabilities of the Cortana personal assistant and the replacement of Internet Explorer with Microsoft Edge. However, media outlets have been critical of the changes to operating system behaviors, including mandatory update installation, privacy concerns over data collection performed by the OS for Microsoft and its partners, and adware-like tactics used to promote the operating system on its release.


title: Windows 10

text: Microsoft initially aimed to have Windows 10 installed on over one billion devices within three years of its release; that goal was ultimately reached almost five years after release on March 16, 2020, and is by now most used version in virtually all countries. By January 2018, Windows 10 surpassed Windows 7 as the most popular version of Windows worldwide. , Windows 10 is estimated to have a 72% share of Windows PCs, still 6.2× the share of its successor Windows 11 (and 6.0× of Windows 7). The share has been declining from a January 2022 peak of 82%, since Windows 11, which is now the second most popular Windows version in many countries. Windows 10 has a 58% share of all PCs (the rest being other Windows editions and other operating systems such as macOS and Linux), and a 22% share of all devices (including mobile, tablet and console) are running Windows 10. On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 10's successor, Windows 11, which was released on October 5, 2021.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 is the final version of Windows that supports 32-bit processors (IA-32 and ARMv7-based) and devices with BIOS firmware. Its successor, Windows 11, requires a device that uses UEFI firmware and a 64-bit processor in any supported architecture (x86-64 for x86 and ARMv8 for ARM).


title: Windows 10

text: At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in 2011, Andrew Lees, the chief of Microsoft's mobile technologies, said that the company intended to have a single software ecosystem for PCs, smartphones, tablets, and other devices: "We won't have an ecosystem for PCs, and one for phones, and one for tabletsthey'll all come together."


title: Windows 10

text: In December 2013, technology writer Mary Jo Foley reported that Microsoft was working on an update to Windows 8 codenamed "Threshold", after a planet in its "Halo" franchise. Similarly to "Blue" (which became Windows 8.1), Foley described Threshold, not as a single operating system, but as a "wave of operating systems" across multiple Microsoft platforms and services, quoting Microsoft sources, scheduled for the second quarter of 2015. She also stated that one of the goals for Threshold was to create a unified application platform and development toolkit for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox One (which all use a similar kernel based on Windows NT).


title: Windows 10

text: At the Build Conference in April 2014, Microsoft's Terry Myerson unveiled an updated version of Windows 8.1 (build 9697) that added the ability to run Windows Store apps inside desktop windows and a more traditional Start menu in place of the Start screen seen in Windows 8. The new Start menu takes after Windows 7's design by using only a portion of the screen and including a Windows 7-style application listing in the first column. The second column displays Windows 8-style app tiles. Myerson said that these changes would occur in a future update, but did not elaborate. Microsoft also unveiled the concept of a "universal Windows app", allowing Windows Store apps created for Windows 8.1 to be ported to Windows Phone 8.1 and Xbox One while sharing a common codebase, with an interface designed for different device form factors, and allowing user data and licenses for an app to be shared between multiple platforms. Windows Phone 8.1 would share nearly 90% of the common Windows Runtime APIs with Windows 8.1 on PCs.


title: Windows 10

text: Screenshots of a Windows build purported to be Threshold were leaked in July 2014, showing the previously presented Start menu and windowed Windows Store apps, followed by a further screenshot of a build identifying itself as "Windows Technical Preview", numbered 9834, in September 2014, showing a new virtual desktop system, a notification center, and a new File Explorer icon.


title: Windows 10

text: On September 30, 2014, Microsoft officially announced that Threshold would be unveiled during a media event as Windows 10. Myerson said that Windows 10 would be Microsoft's "most comprehensive platform ever", providing a single, unified platform for desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and all-in-one devices. He emphasized that Windows 10 would take steps towards restoring user interface mechanics from Windows 7 to improve the experience for users on non-touch devices, noting criticism of Windows 8's touch-oriented interface by keyboard and mouse users. Despite these concessions, Myerson noted that the touch-optimized interface would evolve as well on 10.


title: Windows 10

text: In regards to Microsoft naming the new operating system Windows 10 instead of Windows 9, Terry Myerson said that "based on the product that's coming, and just how different our approach will be overall, it wouldn't be right to call it Windows 9." He also joked that they could not call it "Windows One" (referring to several recent Microsoft products with a similar brand, such as OneDrive, OneNote, and the Xbox One) because Windows 1.0 already existed. At a San Francisco conference in October 2014, Tony Prophet, Microsoft's Vice President of Windows Marketing, said that Windows 9 "came and went", and that Windows 10 would not be "an incremental step from Windows 8.1", but "a material step. We're trying to create one platform, one eco-system that unites as many of the devices from the small embedded Internet of Things, through tablets, through phones, through PCs and, ultimately, into the Xbox."


title: Windows 10

text: Further details surrounding Windows 10's consumer-oriented features were presented during another media event held on January 21, 2015, entitled "Windows 10: The Next Chapter". The keynote featured the unveiling of Cortana integration within the operating system, new Xbox-oriented features, Windows 10 Mobile, an updated Office Mobile suite, Surface Huba large-screened Windows 10 device for enterprise collaboration based upon Perceptive Pixel technology, along with HoloLens‑augmented reality eyewear and an associated platform for building apps that can render holograms through HoloLens.


title: Windows 10

text: Additional developer-oriented details surrounding the "Universal Windows Platform" concept were revealed and discussed during Microsoft's Build developers' conference. Among them were the unveiling of "Islandwood", which provides a middleware toolchain for compiling Objective-C-based software (particularly iOS) to run as universal apps on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. A port of "Candy Crush Saga" made using the toolkit, which shared much of its code with the iOS version, was demonstrated, alongside the announcement that the King-developed game would be bundled with Windows 10 at launch.


title: Windows 10

text: At the 2015 Ignite conference, Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon stated that Windows 10 would be the "last version of Windows", a statement that Microsoft confirmed was "reflective" of its view of the operating system being a "service" with new versions and updates to be released over time. In 2021, however, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be succeeded on compatible hardware by Windows 11–and that Windows 10 support will end on October 14, 2025.


title: Windows 10

text: On June 1, 2015, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be released on July 29, 2015. On July 20, 2015, Microsoft began "Upgrade Your World", an advertising campaign centering on Windows 10, with the premiere of television commercials in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The commercials focused on the tagline "A more human way to do", emphasizing new features and technologies supported by Windows 10 that sought to provide a more "personal" experience to users. The campaign culminated with launch events in thirteen cities on July 29, 2015, which celebrated "the unprecedented role our biggest fans played in the development of Windows 10".


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 makes its user experience and functionality more consistent between different classes of device, and addresses most of the shortcomings in the user interface that were introduced in Windows 8. Windows 10 Mobile, the successor to Windows Phone 8.1, shared some user interface elements and apps with its PC counterpart.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 supports universal apps, an expansion of the Metro-style first introduced in Windows 8. Universal apps can be designed to run across multiple Microsoft product families with nearly identical codeincluding PCs, tablets, smartphones, embedded systems, Xbox One, Surface Hub and Mixed Reality. The Windows user interface was revised to handle transitions between a mouse-oriented interface and a touchscreen-optimized interface based on available input devicesparticularly on 2-in-1 PCs. Both interfaces include an updated Start menu which incorporates elements of Windows 7's traditional Start menu with the tiles of Windows 8. Windows 10 also introduced the Microsoft Edge web browser, a virtual desktop system, a window and desktop management feature called Task View, support for fingerprint and face recognition login, new security features for enterprise environments, and .


title: Windows 10

text: The Windows Runtime app ecosystem was revised into the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). These universal apps are made to run across multiple platforms and device classes, including smartphones, tablets, Xbox One consoles, and other devices compatible with Windows 10. Windows apps share code across platforms, have responsive designs that adapt to the needs of the device and available inputs, can synchronize data between Windows 10 devices (including notifications, credentials, and allowing cross-platform multiplayer for games), and are distributed through the Microsoft Store (rebranded from Windows Store since September 2017). Developers can allow "cross-buys", where purchased licenses for an app apply to all of the user's compatible devices, rather than only the one they purchased on (e.g., a user purchasing an app on PC is also entitled to use the smartphone version at no extra cost).


title: Windows 10

text: The ARM version of Windows 10 allows running applications for x86 processors through 32-bit software emulation.


title: Windows 10

text: On Windows 10, the Microsoft Store serves as a unified storefront for apps, video content, and eBooks. Windows 10 also allows web apps and desktop software (using either Win32 or .NET Framework) to be packaged for distribution on the Microsoft Store. Desktop software distributed through Windows Store is packaged using the App-V system to allow sandboxing.


title: Windows 10

text: A new iteration of the Start menu is used on the Windows 10 desktop, with a list of places and other options on the left side, and tiles representing applications on the right. The menu can be resized, and expanded into a full-screen display, which is the default option in Tablet mode. A new virtual desktop system was added by a feature known as Task View, which displays all open windows and allows users to switch between them, or switch between multiple workspaces. Universal apps, which previously could be used only in full screen mode, can now be used in self-contained windows similarly to other programs. Program windows can now be snapped to quadrants of the screen by dragging them to the corner. When a window is snapped to one side of the screen, Task View appears and the user is prompted to choose a second window to fill the unused side of the screen (called "Snap Assist"). The Windows system icons were also changed.


title: Windows 10

text: Charms have been removed; their functionality in universal apps is accessed from an "App commands" menu on their title bar. In its place is Action Center, which displays notifications and settings toggles. It is accessed by clicking an icon in the notification area, or dragging from the right of the screen. Notifications can be synced between multiple devices. The Settings app (formerly PC Settings) was refreshed and now includes more options that were previously exclusive to the desktop Control Panel.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 is designed to adapt its user interface based on the type of device being used and available input methods. It offers two separate user interface modes: a user interface optimized for mouse and keyboard, and a "Tablet mode" designed for touchscreens. Users can toggle between these two modes at any time, and Windows can prompt or automatically switch when certain events occur, such as disabling Tablet mode on a tablet if a keyboard or mouse is plugged in, or when a 2-in-1 PC is switched to its laptop state. In Tablet mode, programs default to a maximized view, and the taskbar contains a back button and hides buttons for opened or pinned programs by default; Task View is used instead to switch between programs. The full screen Start menu is used in this mode, similarly to Windows 8, but scrolls vertically instead of horizontally.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 incorporates multi-factor authentication technology based upon standards developed by the FIDO Alliance. The operating system includes improved support for biometric authentication through the Windows Hello platform. Devices with supported cameras (requiring infrared illumination, such as Intel RealSense) allow users to log in with iris or face recognition, similarly to Kinect. Devices with supported readers allow users to log in through fingerprint recognition. Support was also added for palm-vein scanning through a partnership with Fujitsu in February 2018. Credentials are stored locally and protected using asymmetric encryption.


title: Windows 10

text: In 2017, researchers demonstrated that Windows Hello could be bypassed on fully-updated Windows 10 version 1703 with a color printout of a person's picture taken with an IR camera. In 2021, researchers were again able to bypass the Windows Hello functionalities by using custom hardware disguised as a camera, which presented an IR photo of the owner's face.


title: Windows 10

text: In addition to biometric authentication, Windows Hello supports authentication with a PIN. By default, Windows requires a PIN to consist of four digits, but can be configured to permit more complex PINs. However, a PIN is not a simpler password. While passwords are transmitted to domain controllers, PINs are not. They are tied to one device, and if compromised, only one device is affected. Backed by a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, Windows uses PINs to create strong asymmetric key pairs. As such, the authentication token transmitted to the server is harder to crack. In addition, whereas weak passwords may be broken via rainbow tables, TPM causes the much-simpler Windows PINs to be resilient to brute-force attacks.


title: Windows 10

text: When Windows 10 was first introduced, multi-factor authentication was provided by two components: Windows Hello and Passport (not to be confused with the Passport platform of 1998). Later, Passport was merged into Windows Hello.


title: Windows 10

text: The enterprise edition of Windows 10 offers additional security features; administrators can set up policies for the automatic encryption of sensitive data, selectively block applications from accessing encrypted data, and enable "Device Guard"a system which allows administrators to enforce a high-security environment by blocking the execution of software that is not digitally signed by a trusted vendor or Microsoft. Device Guard is designed to protect against zero-day exploits, and runs inside a hypervisor so that its operation remains separated from the operating system itself.


title: Windows 10

text: The console windows based on Windows Console (for any console app, not just PowerShell and Windows Command Prompt) can now be resized without any restrictions, can be made to cover the full screen by pressing , and can use standard keyboard shortcuts, such as those for cut, copy, and paste. Other features such as word wrap and transparency were also added. These functions can be disabled to revert to the legacy console if needed.


title: Windows 10

text: The Anniversary Update added Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which allows the installation of a user space environment from a supported Linux distribution that runs natively on Windows. The subsystem translates Linux system calls to those of the Windows NT kernel (only claims full system call compatibility as of WSL 2, included in a later Windows update). The environment can execute the Bash shell and 64-bit command-line programs (WSL 2 also supports 32-bit Linux programs and graphics, assuming supporting software installed, and GPUs support for other uses). Windows applications cannot be executed from the Linux environment, and vice versa. Linux distributions for Windows Subsystem for Linux are obtained through Microsoft Store. The feature initially supported an Ubuntu-based environment; Microsoft announced in May 2017 that it would add Fedora and OpenSUSE environment options as well.


title: Windows 10

text: To reduce the storage footprint of the operating system, Windows 10 automatically compresses system files. The system can reduce the storage footprint of Windows by approximately 1.5GB for 32-bit systems and 2.6GB for 64-bit systems. The level of compression used is dependent on a performance assessment performed during installations or by OEMs, which tests how much compression can be used without harming operating system performance. Furthermore, the Refresh and Reset functions use runtime system files instead, making a separate recovery partition redundant, allowing patches and updates to remain installed following the operation, and further reducing the amount of space required for Windows 10 by up to 12GB. These functions replace the WIMBoot mode introduced on Windows 8.1 Update, which allowed OEMs to configure low-capacity devices with flash-based storage to use Windows system files out of the compressed WIM image typically used for installation and recovery. Windows 10 also includes a function in its Settings app that allows users to view a breakdown of how their device's storage capacity is being used by different types of files, and determine whether certain types of files are saved to internal storage or an SD card by default.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 introduces Microsoft Edge, a new default web browser. It initially featured a new standards-compliant rendering engine derived from Trident, and also includes annotation tools and integration with other Microsoft platforms present within Windows 10. Internet Explorer 11 is maintained on Windows 10 for compatibility purposes, but is deprecated in favor of Edge and, since mid-June 2022, is no longer supported on editions which follow Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy. The initial version of Edge was later succeeded by a new iteration derived from the Chromium Project and Blink layout engine, which replaced the previous EdgeHTML-based version of Edge (renamed "Microsoft Edge Legacy"), and is bundled with the OS by default from build 20H2 onwards.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 incorporates a universal search box located alongside the Start and Task View buttons, which can be hidden or condensed into a single button. Previous versions featured Microsoft's intelligent personal assistant Cortana, which was first introduced with Windows Phone 8.1 in 2014, and supports both text and voice input. Many of its features are a direct carryover from Windows Phone, including integration with Bing, setting reminders, a "Notebook" feature for managing personal information, as well as searching for files, playing music, launching applications and setting reminders or sending emails. Since the November 2019 update, Microsoft has begun to downplay Cortana as part of a repositioning of the product towards enterprise use, with the May 2020 update removing its Windows shell integration and consumer-oriented features.


title: Windows 10

text: Microsoft Family Safety is replaced by Microsoft Family, a parental controls system that applies across Windows platforms and Microsoft online services. Users can create a designated family, and monitor and restrict the actions of users designated as children, such as access to websites, enforcing age ratings on Microsoft Store purchases, and other restrictions. The service can also send weekly e-mail reports to parents detailing a child's computer usage. Unlike previous versions of Windows, child accounts in a family must be associated with a Microsoft accountwhich allows these settings to apply across all Windows 10 devices that a particular child is using.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 also offers the Wi-Fi Sense feature originating from Windows Phone 8.1; users can optionally have their device automatically connect to suggested open hotspots, and share their home network's password with contacts (either via Skype, People, or Facebook) so they may automatically connect to the network on a Windows 10 device without needing to manually enter its password. Credentials are stored in an encrypted form on Microsoft servers and sent to the devices of the selected contacts. Passwords are not viewable by the guest user, and the guest user is not allowed to access other computers or devices on the network. Wi-Fi Sense is not usable on 802.1X-encrypted networks. Adding "_optout" at the end of the SSID will also block the corresponding network from being used for this feature.


title: Windows 10

text: Universal calling and messaging apps for Windows 10 are built in as of the November 2015 update: Messaging, Skype Video, and Phone. These offer built-in alternatives to the Skype download and sync with Windows 10 Mobile.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 provides greater integration with the Xbox ecosystem. Xbox SmartGlass is succeeded by the Xbox Console Companion (formerly the Xbox app), which allows users to browse their game library (including both PC and Xbox console games), and Game DVR is also available using a keyboard shortcut, allowing users to save the last 30 seconds of gameplay as a video that can be shared to Xbox Live, OneDrive, or elsewhere. Windows 10 also allows users to control and play games from an Xbox One console over a local network. The Xbox Live SDK allows application developers to incorporate Xbox Live functionality into their apps, and future wireless Xbox One accessories, such as controllers, are supported on Windows with an adapter. Microsoft also intends to allow cross-purchases and save synchronization between Xbox One and Windows 10 versions of games; Microsoft Studios games such as "ReCore" and "Quantum Break" are intended as being exclusive to Windows 10 and Xbox One.


title: Windows 10

text: "Candy Crush Saga" and "Microsoft Solitaire Collection" are also automatically installed upon installation of Windows 10.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 adds native game recording and screenshot capture ability using the newly introduced Game Bar. Users can also have the OS continuously record gameplay in the background, which then allows the user to save the last few moments of gameplay to the storage device.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 adds FLAC and HEVC codecs and support for the Matroska media container, allowing these formats to be opened in Windows Media Player and other applications. Windows Media Center is no longer bundled.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 includes DirectX 12, alongside WDDM 2.0. Unveiled March 2014 at GDC, DirectX 12 aims to provide "console-level efficiency" with "closer to the metal" access to hardware resources, and reduced CPU and graphics driver overhead. Most of the performance improvements are achieved through low-level programming, which allow developers to use resources more efficiently and reduce single-threaded CPU bottlenecking caused by abstraction through higher level APIs. DirectX 12 will also feature support for vendor agnostic multi-GPU setups. WDDM 2.0 introduces a new virtual memory management and allocation system to reduce workload on the kernel-mode driver.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 adds three new default typefaces compared to Windows 8, but omits several others. The removed typefaces are available in supplemental packs and may be added manually over a non-metered internet connection.


title: Windows 10

text: Windows 10 is available in five main editions for personal computing devices; the Home and Pro editions of which are sold at retail in most countries, and as pre-loaded software on new computers. Home is aimed at home users, while Pro is aimed at power users and small businesses. Each edition of Windows 10 includes all of the capabilities and features of the edition below it, and adds additional features oriented towards their market segments; for example, Pro adds additional networking and security features such as BitLocker, Device Guard, Windows Update for Business, and the ability to join a domain. Enterprise and Education, the other editions, contain additional features aimed towards business environments, and are only available through volume licensing.