On Tuesday night actress Michelle Rodriguez posted a photo to Instagram to promote the digital release of "The Fate of the Furious," the latest movie in the profitable "Fast and the Furious" franchise, which she's starred in five of the eight movies.

By Wednesday morning it grabbed headlines due to a line of text she put in the post:

"I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one. Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise," Rodriguez wrote.

Business Insider spoke to "Fate of the Furious" director F. Gary Gray on Wednesday, who was promoting the Blu-ray/DVD release of the movie (out July 11), and he responded to Rodriguez's comment. 

"Here's the thing, I'm the new guy and I thought with 'The Fate of the Furious,' as it relates to women, I thought there was a strong representation of women in the movie when you bring on what I thought was one of the strongest antagonists in Charlize Theron. And then you have Helen Mirren, who has a cameo that's strong," Gray told Business Insider. "I can't speak for Michelle, she has a very specific point of view and I can't take anything away from that, but I would like to think that with 'The Fate of the Furious' specifically, I can't speak to the other films, I thought the combination of female characters was pretty strong."

Though there have been numerous female characters in the franchise — from Jordana Brewster to Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot — the "Fast and the Furious" movies have always been focused on the male characters, which consist of Vin Diesel, the late Paul Walker, Dwayne "The Rock Johnson, and Jason Statham. Perhaps Gray's movie, the first time he's directed for the "Fast and Furious" franchise, is the start of stronger female roles in the franchise (outside of Rodriguez's Letty character).

The pressure is on whoever takes on the next movie, which could be Gray, though he's keeping things close to the vest.

"I'm very proud of the movie, I love all those guys," Gray said. "As a matter of fact, I just got off the phone with Vin 10 minutes ago. The door's open. Who knows what the future brings."

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NOW WATCH: Here’s what 'Double Dare' host Marc Summers is up to today

Adele hinted that she might never tour again in a handwritten note placed in the audience programs at her recent Wembley Stadium shows in London, the last stop on her 2017 tour, Rolling Stone reports.

"I wanted my final shows to be in London because I don't know if I'll ever tour again and so I want my last time to be at home," she wrote.

In the note, which a fan posted on Instagram, the 29-year-old English star described the trials of her marathon tour in support of her 2015 album "25."

In total, Adele will have played 123 shows when she finishes her tour in London on July 2. 

"Touring is a peculiar thing, it doesn't suit me particularly well," Adele wrote. "I'm a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things. Plus I'm dramatic and have a terrible history of touring. Until now that is! … It has been hard out an absolute thrill and pleasure to have done. I only ever did this tour for you and to hopefully have an impact on you the way that some of my favorite artist have had on me live."

Adele previously had to stop touring in 2011 when she underwent throat surgery to stop "repeated hemorrhaging" from her damaged vocal cords. 

Though her album "25" was released in 2015, it went on to be the best-selling album of 2016, and it has sold over 10 million copies in the United States alone. 

SEE ALSO: The 25 best songs of 2017 so far, ranked

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NOW WATCH: Watch Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's 2010 cameo in the teen drama 'Gossip Girl'

Getting a deal with a "Shark Tank" investor can be an opportunity of a lifetime, but the flood of attention that comes after an episode premieres serves as a test for whether entrepreneurs can perform under pressure.

Through eight seasons of the series, Barbara Corcoran has assembled a portfolio of small businesses, and she's made the founders of her highest-performing into a kind of family.

For the past four years, Corcoran has assembled a group of her most profitable entrepreneurs, along with the most promising founders from the most recent season of the show, for a three-day retreat at one of her homes. The group changes each year.

During this time, they all share best practices, give updates on successes and failures of the past year, and get to know each other better.

She brought the founders of five companies to New York City this June, ending the retreat at a New York Yankees game. The founders, with custom "Barbara's All-Stars" Yankees shirts, got to enjoy the game from a box suite overlooking home plate.

We met up with them and asked them to share their best advice to fellow entrepreneurs.

SEE ALSO: Barbara Corcoran's favorite 'Shark Tank' entrepreneurs share the best advice she's given them

Sometimes you need to take a breath and slow down.

The husband-and-wife team of Rick and Melissa Hinnant gave 10% of Grace and Lace to Corcoran in exchange for a $175,000 investment in Season 5, in late 2013. The women's apparel company has made $25 million in total sales since its appearance on "Shark Tank," and the Hinnants expect sales to be over $10 million this year, at a profit.

Melissa is the visionary behind Grace and Lace, and while it's her first business, Rick is a serial entrepreneur and has been able to lend his experience.

He said that the advice he most often gives is to remember building a company is a "process," and that success doesn't happen in an instant.

"I think so many people can get in and try to hurry the process and try to not make mistakes, and that is an enormous mistake," he said. Trying to be a perfectionist, or doing too many things at once, "stifles the business."

He said that trying to do too much too soon often leads to taking unnecessarily large risks that can sink the whole business. "Take the little baby steps, learn along the way, and you'll be good to go," he said.

You can't beat yourself up.

Sisters Shelly Hyde and Kara Haught made a deal with Corcoran last year, in Season 8. Corcoran gave them $100,000 to become an equal business partner, with a full 50% equity in their women's swimwear business Raising Wild. They've sold $400,000 of products since their segment aired last October.

As the rookies of Corcoran's all-stars, they're fairly new entrepreneurs themselves. But they said that they've realized they need to remain confident and not be hard on themselves.

"Even coming here is so intimidating," Hyde said, referring to the retreat with more seasoned founders, but adding that she and Haught don't let themselves get crippled by fear.

"As an early stage entrepreneur you've got to stay confident and really define what you're doing this for," Haught said.

"It's remembering that there's a purpose behind it. And not forgetting that you had a problem and you're trying to solve it. So you just have to keep on going."

It's important to maintain an open mind in order to grow.

Kim Nelson is the veteran of Corcoran's all-stars, having made a deal with her in Season 2, back in 2010. Corcoran invested $50,000 for 25% equity in Daisy Cakes, and the South Carolina-based online cake company grew rapidly. Last year it brought in $5.2 million in revenue, at a profit.

Nelson said her best advice is to keep an open mind. Corcoran warns her entrepreneurs of, as her fellow Shark Mark Cuban puts it, "drowning in opportunity," so that they do not lose focus of what their company's strengths are — but Nelson said it's important to balance that with careful risk taking or even personal growth.

She recently jumped on an opportunity to take public speaking lessons, for example, and said "the list is a mile long" of similar decisions that opened doors to more opportunities.

Marvel has finally premiered its first trailer for "Inhumans," which will hit the airwaves this fall. Marvel had originally planned an "Inhumans" movie to hit theaters in 2019, but changed those plans and made it a TV show. The show will premiere in IMAX theaters and then be broadcast on ABC.

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As we delve deeper into the summer-movie season, it seems like a good time to look back on the year so far in movies and highlight the most memorable ones. 

Box-office performance doesn't always dictate if a movie is good. Some of the titles below didn't make a huge killing at the multiplex, but there's a good chance that you'll be talking about them long after this year is over. And the early part of 2017 has had some surprising bright spots.

From studio giants like "The Fate of the Furious" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2," to indies including "Colossal" and "T2: Trainspotting," here are the 11 best movies of the year... so far:

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

11. “Colossal”

Writer-director Nacho Vigalondo's unique mix of comedy, social commentary, and sci-fi is given its biggest exposure yet thanks to the casting of stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis for his latest movie. "Colossal" explores the dangers of alcoholism as Vigalondo puts Hathaway front and center playing a party girl who suddenly realizes she's controlling a giant that's destroying Seoul. Sudeikis is her old friend who is also her evil enabler. If you're seeking something different from a movie, this is it.

10. “T2: Trainspotting”

I know what you're thinking: Why the hell would anyone make a sequel to "Trainspotting"? But give this a chance if you haven't yet. Director Danny Boyle along with Ewan McGregor and the rest of the original cast from the landmark first movie deliver an impressive sequel that offers a new story but still celebrates the things we loved about the first one.

9. “The Lego Batman Movie”

Filled with the clever fun that made 2014's "The Lego Movie" a hit, this one has the added bonus of throwing in great Batman jokes as well. 

It feels like awards season just ended, but it's creeping back into our lives once again with the Emmys. Emmy nominations are announced in July, and the ceremony kicks off the awards season on September 12. 

There were some amazing performances this year — actually, there were a lot. Which sadly means that plenty of people will be left out of well-deserved nominations. In honor of all the excellent TV this year, here is an Emmys dream list: a list of people who should be nominated for Emmys, but probably won't, due to the overwhelming competition. 

We left off shoe-ins like Nicole Kidman from "Big Little Lies," Elizabeth Moss from "The Handmaid's Tale," Donald Glover from "Atlanta," and many more. 

Here are all the actors who deserve an Emmy nomination, but probably won't get one.

(Note: not everyone on this list actually submitted themselves to be nominated for an Emmy, but we think they deserve one anyway.)

SEE ALSO: The 25 best songs of 2017 so far, ranked

Lead Actress, comedy

Rachel Bloom, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

On "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Bloom does everything: she sings, dances, she pulls off hilarious comedy and heartbreaking drama. Her character Rebecca Bunch is hopelessly in love with her ex-boyfriend Josh, and has many layers that unpack quickly in the show's second season. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" also happens to be one of the best shows on TV right now.

Aya Cash, “You’re the Worst”

Cash's character on the FX dramedy suffers from clinical depression. In season three, she starts seeing a therapist (played by Samira Wiley of "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Orange Is the New Black") and continues her rocky relationship with Jimmy (Chris Geere). Cash manages to make Gretchen both the worst and yet completely sympathetic, while staying funny and dramatic at the right moments.

Amazon will pay you $10 to watch one of its Prime shows or movies on your TV, if you haven't already.

If you're a Prime member, all you have to do is sign into the Prime Video app on devices like a smart TV, gaming console, Fire TV, Roku, and so on. Then watch a video. That's all. In return, you'll get a $10 credit on Amazon, which you have to spend by the end of Prime Day on July 11.

This move shows how much Amazon wants its Prime Video service to compete for your premium video time. The tech giant is set to spend a whopping $4.5 billion on content this year, according to JPMorgan, which would make it a major player in the industry, and vault it toward Netflix's $6 billion content spend. It's also offering the ability to subscribe to premium channels like HBO and Showtime through Prime.

And if Amazon is spending $4.5 billion, it wants to make sure people are actually watching the stuff.

Earlier this month, Apple announced that Prime Video would be coming to Apple TV "later this year," squashing a long-running standoff between the two companies. Amazon has been notoriously frosty with its competitors in the streaming video space, and still doesn't have an app on Google's streaming devices, like Chromecast. But the Apple deal could speak to a warming, and an intent by Amazon to get its app on every streaming device.

Whether it's getting Prime Video on the Apple TV, or literally paying you $10, it's clear that Amazon is trying to get its shows and movies on your living room screen.

Here are the instructions on how you get your $10.

SEE ALSO: AMC wants you to pay $5 a month to watch its shows like 'The Walking Dead' without ads

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NOW WATCH: Here’s the first trailer for 'Inhumans' — the Marvel movie that was turned into a TV show

AMC is launching a $4.99-a-month premium service called AMC Premiere, which lets you watch its hits like "Better Call Saul" and "The Walking Dead" without ads.

AMC Premiere will make ad-free versions of AMC shows available to stream as soon as they air on TV. It will have some extras like a curated set of movies, and AMC even hinted there might be some original content for the service.

The catch: You have to already be a Comcast Xfinity TV subscriber to get AMC Premiere, though AMC does want to expand it to other pay-TV providers, the company told Reuters. Still, cord-cutters are out of luck.

The launch of AMC Premiere shows how the network is trying to compete with ad-free competitors like Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Showtime. These companies, however, all offer an a-la-carte option, and aren't part of a standard cable package. AMC Premiere still requires you to pay for a cable subscription.

Where does AMC fit?

As streaming video distribution heats up, AMC could be caught between two worlds.

AMC has made its name on high-quality original dramas like "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men," but unlike HBO and Showtime, it's firmly in the world of the standard, ad-supported cable package. If the move to digital shakes up how a pay-TV package works, a big question will be whether prestige networks like AMC could get pushed more toward the HBO model.

Earlier this month, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti presented an interesting take on the subject: He predicted the market for high-quality longform video would "bifurcate into two buckets."

Here's how he described it:

“One will be best represented by Netflix and HBO, and that will be subscription-based revenue models, with no advertising and premium, expensive, high-cost-per-minute content. Think ‘Game of Thrones' or 'House of Cards' type stuff.

“There will be another bucket dominated by Facebook and YouTube, and a few others — we’ll see who ends up on the traditional media side being able to step into that space — that will be ad-supported media and kind of replace what broadcast TV used to be. So, massive reach. No affiliate fees. Advertising supported. And it will be lower cost per minute, but it will become more premium.”

If that sort of change does come, where will networks like AMC fit?

SEE ALSO: Why companies like Facebook and Netflix will rule the future of TV, according to BuzzFeed's CEO

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NOW WATCH: I’ve been using the new iOS on my iPhone — here are the new features that impressed me the most

There are a lot of great titles coming to your favorite streaming services in July.

You can decide for yourselves if the critics were wrong and titles like “Ghost in the Shell” and “Snatched” are any good. And there are a bunch of “Star Trek” movies coming to Amazon and Hulu to help fill the void until "Star Trek: Discovery" arrives in October.

But let’s face it, you all are waiting to start season 7 of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” which will kick off July 16. Thankfully, the wait is almost over.

Here's everything coming to your favorite streaming platforms in June. We've highlighted some standouts in bold:

SEE ALSO: The 15 best '80s songs from Netflix's new show "GLOW"

iTunes

Available July 4

“The Boss Baby”
“Free Fire”
“The Promise”

Available July 11

“Ghost in the Shell”
“Gifted”
“Going in Style”

Available July 18

“Colossal”
“The Circle”
“Slight”

Available July 25

“Snatched”
“The Lovers”
“King Arthur”

Amazon Prime

Available July 1

“1 Dead Party”
“14 Women”
“18 Swirling Riders”
“The 28th Day: Wrath of Steph”
“48 Hrs.”
“8 Heads in a Duffel Bag”
“Abolition”
“Agent Cody Banks”
“Air: The Musical”
“All American Zombie Drugs”
“Amnesiac”
“Another 48 Hrs.”
“Appetite”
“Area 51”
“The Artworks”
“Assassin of the Tsar”
“Bandits”
“Big Foot Wars”
“Blind Heat”
“Blood Moon Rising”
“Blood Reaper”
“Boomerang”
“Boricua”
“Braveheart”
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
“Bull Durham”
“Bumblef**k, USA”
“Bunnyman Massacre”
“Carne: The Taco Maker”
“Carnies”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)
“Clear and Present Danger”
“Cold Mountain” 
“The Corrupted”
“Crystal River”
“Cutthroat Island”
“Day We Met”
“Dead Evidence”
“Death Wish IV: The Crackdown”
“Destination Vegas”
“Dilemma”
“Dirt Merchant”
“Dragonblade”
“Dream a Little Dream”
“Drunk Wedding”
“The Eagle and the Hawk”
“Eight Men Out”
“Elephant”
“The First Wives Club”
“Flashdance”
“Flipping”
“Fly Me to the Moon”
“Foreign Fields”
“Frankenstein Reborn”
“Free Money”
“Frozen Kiss”
“G Men from Hell”
“Gene-Fusion”
“The General”
“Get Well Soon”
“Ghost Bride”
“Godsend”
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
“Gunshy”
“Hazard Jack”
“Hobgoblins”
“House Of The Dead”
“House of the Dead 2”
“The Hunt For Red October” 
“Intimate Affairs”
“Into the Fire”
“Jack in the Box”
“Jezebeth”
“Jingles the Clown”
“John Grisham's The Rainmaker”
“Johnny Guitar”
“Killing Ariel”
“Killing Zoe”
“Kingpin”
“The Last Word”
“Lazarus: Day of the Living Dead”
“The Letter”
“The Little Kidnappers”
“Little Red Devil”
“Lost in Siberia”
“Lovin Molly”
“The Lucky Ones” 
“Manhattan”
“Married to the Mob”
“The Matrix Reloaded”
“The Matrix Revolutions”
“Meeting Spencer”
“Metamorphosis”
“The Midnight Meat Train”
“Model Behaviour”
“Morning Glory”
“Mortem”
“Moscow Heat”
“My Bloody Wedding”
“Nerve”
“New Order”
“Paradise Lost”
“Payback”
“The Peacemaker” 
“Pi”
“Pootie Tang”
“Postmortem”
“Rescue Dawn”
“Rosemary's Baby”
“Scrooged”
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”
“Star Trek III: The Search for Spock”
“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”
“Star Trek IX: Insurrection”
“Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”
“Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”
“Star Trek VIII: First Contact”
“Star Trek Vll: Generations”
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
“Suicide Kings”
“Up in the Air”
“Wild Wild West”
 
Available July 4

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Available July 5

“Snowfall” (Season 1)
“Suits” (Season 7)

Available July 6

“The Assignment”
“The Salesman” (Amazon Original)
“Under the Gun”
 
Available July 7

“Begum Jaan”
 
Available July 8

“Our Kind of Traitor”
“Sliding Doors”
 
Available July 9

“Its Gawd!”

Available July 13

“Mr. Robot” (Season 2)
 
Available July 14

“Antarctica: Ice & Sky”

Available July 16

“Game of Thrones” (Season 7)
“Salvation” (Season 1)

Available July 17

“The Strain” (Season 4)
 
Available July 19

“Miss Sloane”

Available July 21

“Niko and the Sword of Light” (Season 1, Amazon Original)

Available July 23

“Insecure” (Season 2)
“Ballers” (Season 3)

Available July 28

“The Last Tycoon” (Season 1, Amazon Original)
“Chef”
“The Living Dead” (Season 1)
 
Available July 31

“Jeepers Creepers”

Hulu

Available July 1

“48 Hours”
“8 Heads in a Duffel Bag”
“Altered States”
“Another 48 Hours”
“Area 51”
“As I Am: The Life and Times of DJ AM”
“Bandits”
“Beverly Hills Ninja”
“The Blob”
“Boomerang”
“Braveheart”
“Bull Durham”
“Cat O’Nine Tails”
“Clear and Present Danger”
“Click”
“Coma”
“Dark City”
“Dead Calm”
“Death Wish IV: The Crackdown”
“The Devil’s Advocate”
“Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”
“Dream a Little Dream”
“Drunk Wedding”
“The Eagle and the Hawk”
“Eight Men Out”
“Encino Man”
“The Fan”
“The First Wives Club”
“A Fistful of Dynamite”
“Flashdance”
“Fly Me to the Moon”
“Free Money”
“The Furies”
“Get Well Soon”
“Godsend”
“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
“House of the Dead”
“House of the Dead 2”
“Hudson Hawk”
“The Hunt for Red October”
“John Carpenter’s Vampires”
“John Grisham’s The Rainmaker”
“Johnny Guitar”
“The Juror”
“Killing Zoe”
“Kingpin”
“Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV”
“Kit Kittredge: An American Girl”
“La Bamba”
“Les Miserables”
“The Letter”
“Lost Souls”
“The Lucky Ones”
“A Man Alone”
“The Mangler”
“Manhattan”
“Married to the Mob”
“The Mask”
“The Midnight Meat Train”
“Misery”
“My Dog Skip”
“Needful Things”
“Nerve”
“Payback”
“The Peacemaker”
“A Perfect Murder”
“Pootie Tang”
“The Presidio”
“The Professional”
“Reasonable Doubt”
“Rescue Dawn”
“Riding in Cars with Boys”
“Road House”
“Rosemary’s Baby”
“Rustler’s Rhapsody”
“Sacred Ground”
“Santee”
“School Daze”
“Scrooged”
“Sense and Sensibility”
“Sniper”
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”
“Star Trek III: The Search for Spock”
“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”
“Star Trek IX: Insurrection”
“Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”
“Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”
“Star Trek VIII: First Contact”
“Star Trek VII: Generations”
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
“Suicide Kings (1997)”
“Syriana”
“The Tall Stranger”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3”
“The Pursuit of Happiness”
“The Water Horse”
“To the Arctic”
“Top Dog”
“Top of the Food Chain”
“Up in the Air”
“Walking Tall”
“The Witches”
“Wolfen”

Available July 4

“Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie”

Available July 5

“The Eric Andre Show” (Season 4)
“Prince Avalanche”
“The Sorcerer and the White Snake”

Available July 6

“Under the Gun”

Available July 7

“Pure” (Season 1)

Available July 8

“Our Kind of Traitor”

Available July 9

“Sliding Doors”

Available July 10

“Blood, Sand & Gold”

Available July 12

“The Bold Type” (Series Premiere)
“Humpday”
“Melancholia”
“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”

Available July 14

“Uncle Grandpa” (Season 4)
“Da Sweet Blood of Jesus”

Available July 16

“Inside Job”

Available July 19

“John Dies at the End”

Available July 20

“Tagged” (Season 1)

Available July 23

“Touch of Light”

Available July 24

“Guardians of Oz”
“Touch of the Light”

Available July 25

“Midnight, Texas” (Series Premiere)
“Somewhere Between” (Series Premiere)

Available July 26

“Good Ol’ Frieda”
“Oxford Murders”

Available July 28

“Betch” (Season 2)

Available July 30

“96 Souls”

Available July 31

“Jeepers Creepers”

An incredible video game is dominating the attention of millions, having sold over 4 million copies and amassed over $100 million in revenue— and it's not even out yet. The game in question is named "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds." 

How does a game that's not out manage to make over $100 million in three months? Through something called "Early Access." It's a section of the PC gaming storefront Steam — used by hundreds of millions of people — specifically made for game makers and publishers to sell incomplete games.

The idea is simple: A game maker puts out a game that's playable, but still in development; players pay for the game early, knowing they're going to see the game change over time as it's in development. It can be an amazing experience, offering a means of funding for a game developer before their product is complete while also enabling players to see (and sometimes influence) the game's progress.

"PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" is one of these games — a so-called "Early Access" game on Steam — and it's sold for $30. The current plan is to have the game "complete" and out of Early Access by later this year.  

But the game is also coming to game consoles. More specifically, "Battlegrounds" is coming to the Xbox One exclusively later this year. And that means that the 60-plus million PlayStation 4 owners either have to play it on Xbox or on PC. 

But the Xbox One is owned by approximately half the number of people who own the PlayStation 4. It stands to reason that it would make more sense for Bluehole Games, the studio that makes "Battlegrounds," to release the game on PlayStation 4 first, given its audience size advantage. At very least, it makes sense for the PlayStation 4 to get the game at the same time as the Xbox One.

But there's a good reason that it's only headed to the Xbox One for now: "The Xbox has the Game Preview program," the game's creative director Brendan Greene told me during an interview earlier this month at the annual E3 video game trade show.

To be totally clear, it's entirely likely that Microsoft also paid Bluehole Games for exclusivity of "Battlegrounds." But strictly from a logistics perspective, the Xbox One is the only home game console with a program anything like Steam's Early Access. And that's particularly appealing to Greene and his team.

"It allows us essentially to do Early Access on a console," he said. 

The game's executive producer, Chang-han Kim, echoed Greene's sentiment. "Our approach is to talk with our community as often as possible, to gain their feedback and iterate based off of that. That's one of the main reasons we chose to go with Xbox One," he said. 

Indeed, that's how "Battlegrounds" has been developed thus far. The game launched in Steam's Early Access program back in March, and it's received regular updates ever since — many of those updates based on player feedback. 

The plan for the game on consoles is similar, and there's a good reason for that too: It allows the developers to tweak subtle elements of the game on that platform. There are huge differences between playing a game on a console and a PC — from control input (keyboard/mouse vs gamepad) to where you sit (2 feet away from a PC monitor vs 10 feet away from a TV). 

It's these differences that Bluehole is aiming to minimize, and it's going with the Xbox One first as a testbed — and it's only able to do that because of Microsoft's Game Preview program. 

"That's one of the main reasons we chose to go with Xbox One. We definitely do have plans for other platforms, but no details have been finalized yet," said Kim. Stay tuned, PlayStation 4 owners!

SEE ALSO: A game that isn't even out yet has already racked up $100 million in revenue

DON'T MISS: A game developer made over $100 million in 3 months — here's how he's spending his wealth

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everything you need to know about 'Battlegrounds' — an unfinished game that’s already made $60 million

"Titanic" director James Cameron, famous for creating innovative 3D filming techniques used in his colossal hit "Avatar," will try to revolutionize 3D technology once again with continued research into ways to make it glasses-free in theaters.

It's not clear yet whether or not Cameron will be able to achieve his goal of creating glasses-free 3D technology for theater projectors, but it's still a possibility ahead of the upcoming "Avatar" sequels.

Cameron has talked about glasses-free theater projection in the past. Last fall, while accepting an honorary membership from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Cameron made the following statement:

"I'm going to push. Not only for better tools, workflow, high dynamic range and high frame rates — the things we are working toward. I'm still very bullish on 3D, but we need brighter projection, and ultimately I think it can happen — with no glasses. We'll get there."

Cameron's production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, recently renewed its 5-year contract with the light projection company Christie Digital Systems, according to The Hollywood reporter. Christie is known for supplying Lightstorm with RGB light projectors, considered to deliver top-of-the-line brightness and image quality, ideal for projecting 3D films. 

The renewal of Lightstorm's deal with Christie, as stated by the press release on Christie's website, is contingent upon the two companies sharing their collective 3D knowledge and developing new 3D technology together, one of those new technologies potentially being glasses-free projectors. Christie will also provide Lightstorm with its brand new RGB laser projection series that's currently in the works, speculated to be key in creating this new glasses-free 3D tech. It's unclear yet how exactly this new 3D technology will be made possible.

For now, the only thing that's certain is that four — yes, four — "Avatar" sequels are on their way. 

SEE ALSO: Everything we know about the next 'Avatar' movie

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Just when you thought John Woo’s classic 1997 action movie “Face/Off” couldn’t have gotten any stranger, imagine if Gina Gershon suddenly showed up at the end with a bald head?

The actress, who played Sasha Hassler in the movie, revealed during a Facebook Live chat with Business Insider on Wednesday that when she was notified that the script was being rewritten so her character would be added into a scene at the end of the movie, she went to Woo and tried to convince him to let her do the dramatic change to her look.

“They were like, ‘We’re going to bring you back after your brother dies,’” Gershon said. “Then I got this brilliant idea, or I thought it was a brilliant idea, I said, 'When I come back, since my brother died' — and it’s Nick and he’s got the shaved head — 'I want to come back and I want my head to be shaved.'”

For those who are not “Face/Off” fanatics, or haven’t seen the movie in years, here’s a refresher.

Gershon’s Sasha Hassler character is the ex-girlfriend of terrorist Castro Troy (Nicolas Cage) and the brother of Dietrich Hassler (played by Nick Cassavetes), who supplies bombs to Troy. Following one of the bloody shootouts toward the end of the movie, Dietrich is killed. So Gershon felt the best way for her character to pay tribute to her fallen brother, who had a bald head, was to sport her own when she dramatically returns in the movie.

John Woo wasn't into it.

“I came in and I’m so excited and I said, ‘So John, I come out, and you don’t know who it is, and all of a sudden my head’s bald. Like Cassavetes.’ And he went ‘No, no, no.’ Right away. His face had this look like I was insane,” Gershon said.

This is how the scene ended up. Now just imagine all of this with Gershon's head shaved:

Celebrating its 20th anniversary earlier this week, “Face/Off” was a major hit, earning over $245 million worldwide. But what has built its fandom over the last two decades is the movie’s insane gun fights — which Woo had featured in his Hong Kong movies and finally was allowed to do in a Hollywood movie — and outlandish performances by stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, who play two men who undergo facial transplant surgery. It seems Gershon really wanted to get in on the crazy.

“Everyone shot me down and to this day I still think it’s a good idea,” she said of the bald head.

But would she have used a cap or gone method and shaved her head?

“I probably would have done a cap,” Gershon said. “But I don’t know, I didn’t care at that point. If they said, ‘Yes, but only if you shave your head,’ I would have said, ‘Great, do it.’”

Watch our entire chat with Gershon below, who was visiting to promote her latest movie, “Inconceivable":

SEE ALSO: 32 actors who should get nominated for Emmys — but probably won't

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NOW WATCH: Marvel just dropped the first trailer for 'Black Panther'

A barely three-month-old game that isn't even through being developed has already amassed over $100 million revenue from over 4 million players, each of whom bought the game for $30.

Weirder still: The game is bizarrely named, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" — only, the developers behind it usually spell it in all caps. 

The game has been a big hit on Steam, but that's community of game enthusiasts. So you might think that, in order to reach a broader audience, the game's makers — a South Korean studio named Bluehole — might change its name to something a bit less esoteric name. But you would be wrong. 

"People are talking about it, that's the main thing," the game's creative director, Brendan Greene, told me in an interview earlier this month at the annual E3 video game trade show in Los Angeles, California.

He added, "Yeah it's a silly name, but f--- it."

Greene is the infamous "PlayerUnknown" in the game's name; it's his online handle. And "Battlegrounds" is his game.

The foundation for "Battlegrounds" was a mod Greene created for two other games: "ArmA 3" and "H1z1." The mod, which he called "Battle Royale," introduced a new mode for playing those games where the goal was to be the last player standing. The mod was named after the Japanese film that inspired it.

If you haven't heard of "Battle Royale," it doesn't matter — the premise is familiar to anyone who's seen "The Hunger Games." In "Battle Royale," a group of Japanese high school students are forced onto a deserted island with a small selection of survival gear and weaponry. The goal: Be the last one standing.

Greene took that same premise to "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds." Bluehole couldn't name it "Battle Royale," of course — that's already a movie, and Bluehole doesn't have the rights to a video game adaptation of the film (nor is the game an attempt at one).

The game's name is kind of a mouthful. Players, tired of saying/typing such a long and bizarre name, have taken to calling it "PUBG" (pronounced: "pub-gee") or simply "Battlegrounds." 

So, why does Bluehole stick with such an absurd name? Here's Greene's explanation:

"It's only called 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' because 'Battlegrounds' you can't get a copyright on. You just can't. So calling it 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' [makes sense] because it was 'PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale' before that. And it's all caps because it looks better as all caps. No other reason. I'm not shouting it."

SEE ALSO: There's a good reason why the crazy new game that pits 100 people against each other on a deserted island is coming to Xbox One exclusively

DON'T MISS: A game developer made over $100 million in 3 months — here's how he's spending his wealth

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NOW WATCH: Everything you need to know about 'Battlegrounds' — an unfinished game that’s already made $60 million

Andy Kleinman thinks the well has run dry for smartphones.

He’s not necessarily wrong. The phone market today is led by Apple, Samsung, a handful of Chinese companies with little Western presence — and that’s about it.

Few companies make big profits. And the devices themselves have become commodified to the point where fans’ most passionate disputes now concern display bezels.

Kleinman’s solution, then, is to go niche. He’s spent the past two years building a new startup called Wonder, which is aiming to build a number of devices, new phone included, aimed specifically at video game enthusiasts.

The Los Angeles-based company has largely been working out of the public eye, but on Tuesday announced that it has raised $14 million to date. That includes a recently-closed Series A round of funding led by Grishin Robotics, a Russian VC firm focused on the Internet of Things, and TCL, a Chinese manufacturer behind select Roku TVs and various smartphones. Kleinman says the latter will help Wonder with manufacturing and distribution.

In a press release, Wonder says its first product will be “a new type of portable hardware device that might be considered a hybrid between a powerful smartphone and a gaming console.”

Kleinman declined to share more specifics in an interview with Business Insider, but a source familiar with the company’s plans described the product as a large, high-end mobile device that will work with a number of accessories aimed at making it more useful for gaming. That will include a dock for use with TVs, the source said, which helps the device function somewhat like Nintendo’s Switch console. All of this is based on Android.

Kleinman has previously said the company is interested in virtual reality tech as well.

There is plenty of reason to be skeptical of a project like this. But Kleinman and Wonder do have some relevant experience: Kleinman has previously had stints at mobile game makers Scopely and Zynga, while a LinkedIn search shows veterans from HTC, Activision, Sony, and former Android modder Cyanogen holding prominent positions at the company.

Kleinman says there’s at least 50 people working directly on the project today, but that the company is actively growing. Investors in Wonder are similarly diverse, ranging from Silicon Valley types like Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC firm to entertainers like Kevin Spacey and Shakira.

Reasons to doubt

In any case, starting from scratch in a saturated smartphone market is extremely difficult. Making a mobile device aimed at gamers may be even harder.

Kleinman speaks frequently about how Wonder will focus heavily on the community of enthusiasts it wants to build, but it’s not obvious that the game-playing public wants gaming devices not made by Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo in the first place. Multifunction gaming devices like the Nokia N-Gage and Sony Xperia Play have bombed spectacularly, as have alternative consoles like the Ouya. (Former Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman says she is currently an advisor to Wonder.) These are not names you want your stuff to evoke. 

If Wonder does manage to find demand, then the challenge, as always with video games, becomes software. Android-based gaming devices like the Nvidia Shield have carved out some niche, but offer a significantly smaller selection of games than a console like the PlayStation 4. They also live in a market far away from the iPhone.

Wonder, for its part, is promising “exclusive software, services, and content,” and Kleinman says the company is meeting with “big, small, and medium” gaming companies to make that happen.

The results of that will have to be more involved than Scopely’s brand of casual games, however, for Wonder to have any chance with the hardcore crowd Kleinman is targeting.

Not for everybody

For now, it's not clear what Wonder's device even looks like — or where it will be sold — so there's still plenty of room for speculation. But Kleinman’s belief that future smartphones have to be significantly differentiated to survive is sensible.

“If you think about cars, for example, it started as a basic method of transportation, and over the years it started becoming more about — there are different sizes, there are different colors, there are different levels of luxury, different speeds," Kleinman said. "People started to get whatever they identified with the best.

"And so I think we’re here. If there’s going to be 4 billion people with a smartphone in the next couple of years, it doesn’t make sense that everyone has something that looks exactly the same. It makes sense that people have experiences more unique to who they are.”

Wonder’s plan to cater to its niche exclusively is what Kleinman thinks will separate it from other new hardware startups like Andy Rubin’s Essential, which unveiled a new Android phone last month.

“I've never said, ‘Okay, Wonder is going to go straight up and compete with Apple, or Samsung, or Google in the same place.’ It’s not the same thing. We’re focused on something specific,” Kleinman said.

Kleinman says the company has started production, and that it’ll slowly reveal details about the device to those who sign up for an "Alpha program" on its website. A full reveal will then come before the end of the year.

Whether the result will be something appealing enough to attract the enthusiasts Kleinman wants — and whether enough people even want to trade their iPhones for a different device at all — is an open question.

SEE ALSO: Sony made an $800 phone with extravagant features you won't find in any iPhone or Galaxy phone — here's what it's like

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Audi gave the public a sneak peek of its next-generation A8 luxury sedan at the world premiere of "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in Hollywood, California on Wednesday.

Audi has been pretty tight-lipped about its all-new flagship sedan that will make its world debut at the Audi Summit in Barcelona, Spain on July 11.

Although pictures of heavily camouflaged prototypes have been floating around the internet for some time, very little is available in the way of concrete technical information.

What we do know about the fourth generation A8 centers around its active suspension and mild hybrid drivetrain.

The new A8 will be one of the first vehicles in Audi's lineup to be equipped with a fully active, electro-mechanical suspension powered by a 48-volt electrical system. Using the car's front-mounted camera, the system can acquire new information on road conditions up to 18 times per second. With that information, the system is able to manipulate each corner of the car individually using a series wheel-mounted electric motors. The A8 will also be equipped with rear-wheel steering that increases high-speed stability while improving low-speed maneuverability.

In addition, all A8 models will feature mild-hybrid technology that allows the sedan's expected six, eight or 12 cylinder internal combustion engines to shut off while cruising on the highway or when accelerating from a standstill. The system is designed to deliver incremental improvement in efficiency and won't be as intrusive as traditional parallel hybrid technology.

Finally, a source at Audi told Business Insider that the A8 will help launch the company's new infotainment system. The new infotainment technology is expected to be a step beyond even Audi's own ground-breaking virtual cockpit interface.

The all-new Audi A8 is expected to hit showrooms next year as a 2019 model.

SEE ALSO: Rolls-Royce unleashed a menacing new convertible for younger buyers

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NOW WATCH: HENRY BLODGET: This chart explains everything that's wrong with the economy today

This is a preview of a research report from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about BI Intelligence, click here.

What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Robert Elder, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
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NOW WATCH: Marvel just dropped the first trailer for 'Black Panther'

In 2012, Apple and Google were going through a breakup of sorts.

Apple released a new version of iOS without the Google Maps or YouTube apps, which had previously been included on the iPhone as default apps since the first iPhone.

Now, we know why YouTube was pulled as a default app: Because Google requested it. And, it had nothing to do with Apple's famous decision to make its own mapping software. 

Apple wanted to include YouTube on the first iPhone, so it asked Google for special privileged access to the video platform, although it built the YouTube app itself.

Then five years later, Google decided to "take back control of our app," according to Hunter Walk, a venture capitalist at Homebrew who worked at YouTube for years.

At the time, many thought it was Apple that kicked Google's YouTube out of its default apps. Now, YouTube needs to be separately downloaded, and lots of people do it — it's currently the fourth most downloaded free app on the App Store.

Walk published his recollections as a tweetstorm on Thursday, and joked that the "statue of limitations on any nondisclosures" from his time at YouTube had expired.

Here's his story: 

SEE ALSO: Apple Is Taking The YouTube App Off The iPhone

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"I'm not a businessman. I'm a business, man."

When JAY-Z made that famous boast on a Kanye West song in 2005, he was in the midst of his "retirement" from rapping and had shifted his focus to the strictly corporate side of music and popular culture.

In his three-year hiatus from music after the release of 2003's "The Black Album," JAY-Z had become the CEO and president of Def Jam Recordings. He had also expanded on the entrepreneurial projects — including his clothing line, Rocawear, and several other ventures — that would go on to make him one of the wealthiest artists in the music industry today.

Jay's experimentation in the business world would soon carry over into his evolving, risk-taking approach to the business of selling albums.

After the traditional release of his commercially successful 2006 comeback album, "Kingdom Come," Jay flipped the script for his 2007 LP "American Gangster" by keeping the album off of the iTunes store. 

The move foreshadowed more radical album-release strategies to come from the rap mogul — many of which have focused on exclusivity and increasing profit, both in partnerships with various companies and through his streaming service, Tidal, as we will explore.

Jay's 13th studio album, "4:44," is out Friday as a Tidal and Sprint exclusive. 

SEE ALSO: The 25 best songs of 2017 so far, ranked

2007: Removing "American Gangster" from iTunes

JAY-Z's decision to keep his 2007 album based on the Denzel Washington film "American Gangster" off of the iTunes store was founded in his distaste for single track sales diluting the importance of the album format in the digital era.

"As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles," Jay explained in 2007. 

Of course, keeping the album off of iTunes also meant that the artist didn't have to pay Apple 30% of the album's sales. The album went on to become his tenth No. 1 album and has sold over a million copies. 

2011: Staggering the digital and physical releases of "Watch The Throne"

JAY-Z's collaborative album with Kanye West, "Watch The Throne," became the first major album of the internet age to completely avoid leaking before its release date, thanks to the duo's innovative, industry-shifting release strategy. 

Jay and Kanye staggered the digital and physical releases of "Watch The Throne" by a week and made iTunes the first, exclusive purveyor of the LP to ensure that the album wouldn't leak from CD manufacturers.

The strategy instantly became the standard mode of operation for labels to prevent leaks of their high-profile albums. Frank Ocean's 2012 album "Channel Orange" adopted the same staggered release, for instance. 

2013: Giving a million free copies of "Magna Carta Holy Grail" to Samsung users

As part of a $20 million deal between Samsung and JAY-Z's Roc Nation label in 2013, Samsung users were able to claim a million free copies of Jay's album "Magna Carta Holy Grail" through an app, three days before the album saw its wide release. 

The exclusive, Samsung-bought copies did not end up counting toward the album's first week sales total due to Billboard's existing rules on the matter. 

JAY-Z took to Twitter to joke about the sales discrepancy upon the album's release, writing, "If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesn't report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules#magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII."

Nonetheless, "Magna Carta" went on to become Jay's 13th consecutive No. 1 album, and it is currently certified double platinum by RIAA. 

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Amazon’s streaming platform, Twitch, has unveiled a slew of new features for its mobile app, which could help attract more broadcasters and users to its platform, The Verge reports.

The announcement continues a strong year of updates for Twitch — it recently released subscription options and in-stream video game sales for affiliate streamers to help broadcasters monetize. The new updates are expected to be available in July.

Here are a few of the more notable updates:

• Mobile live streaming. Broadcasters can now stream to their channel from Twitch’s mobile app. This could attract more streamers to Twitch, as the feature provides flexibility, and a more convenient way to create content. This could draw in more viewers if broadcasters begin streaming non-game content with greater frequency. However, broadcasters can’t yet live stream gameplay, which may be discouraging to those interested in the medium.
• Dark mode. This is a user interface theme that converts the normally white elements of Twitch’s interface to a darker shade. The mode could present a more pleasant viewing experience for users watching in low-light environments, helping to further entice people to binge watch on the platform. In turn, this could boost user engagement and retention. The feature helps differentiate Twitch from YouTube, which doesn’t currently offer a dark mode on its mobile app.
• Twitch Pulse. Twitch Pulse is a social feed where broadcasters can post content — including text, links, videos, and images — for viewers to engage with. The feed is similar to Twitter, and could help with user retention as it provides content for users to interact with when streams aren’t occurring. Building out Twitch’s mobile app will be crucial for it to stay competitive against other popular social apps, such as Facebook and Snapchat, which have a strong mobile presence with multiple use cases and functionalities, as well as other streaming platforms like YouTube Live.

As Twitch and other streaming platforms grow, one must ask what the future of eSports will look like. How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Robert Elder, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular eSport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective eSport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

To get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now

You can also purchase and download the full report from our research store.

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Barbara Corcoran has built a large portfolio of startups over eight seasons of "Shark Tank," but she's very selective about those with whom she spends most of her time.

Shortly after closing a $200,000 deal for 10% equity with sibling entrepreneurs Jeff and Jen Martin, founders of Pipsnacks, Corcoran decided they were going to be worth her energy.

Since then, they've landed a deal with Whole Foods that got their line of gourmet popcorn into every Whole Foods location in the US, and they're expecting sales this year to be around $5 million, at a profit.

We met the Martins on the final day of Corcoran's recent "all-star retreat," where she invited five of her favorite "Shark Tank" companies to New York to share ideas and get to know each other.

They each shared their best advice to entrepreneurs.

Know your business.

Jeff's advice to new entrepreneurs is to use the nascent stage of their business to learn how everything works. "Roll up your sleeves, and like for us, pop the popcorn for a little bit," he said. "Work on the line boxing and shipping, receiving, pull up the financials and look at it."

Micromanaging can be a disaster for a mature company, and Jeff recognizes that. But he said he's found that a deep knowledge of how your young company operates is what can get you to the point where your business is growing enough that you can start building your team.

"We've had some friends that have outsourced everything from day one, and it's always a challenge because when stuff hits the fan, it's like, 'I have no idea how that even works,'" he said.

Know yourself.

Jen's advice happened to be about advice itself: Seek out insights from entrepreneurs who have already faced the trials you're currently going through, but ultimately answer to yourself. Be open to advice, but don't rely on it.

"Ask questions, see what people say," she said. "But I think that you also should very much have to believe it yourself and know where your passion is."

Advice can help guide you on your journey, but when things get difficult, you're only going to survive if you trust in your own abilities and vision.

SEE ALSO: Barbara Corcoran's favorite 'Shark Tank' entrepreneurs share their best business advice

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NOW WATCH: 'Shark Tank' star Barbara Corcoran shares her keys to making a good first impression