Apple to allow third-party app stores in Japan
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 by Richard Harris
The Japanese parliament has passed the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software, a law that compels Apple to allow access to third-party app stores and payment providers on devices that run iOS. The legislation, which was passed by Japan's upper house and will be enforced following Cabinet approval within the next eighteen months, seeks to c...
Top startups of the decade revealed
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 by Richard Harris
New data has revealed the top 10 most successful startups of the decade. The Startup Success Index, by software development experts at Vention, analyzed a list of 1,220 startups, from CB Insights, against its valuation, the public perception of the company through search volume, its growth score, and the number of employees. Results for each category were converted...
Why you should care about developing on blockchain
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 by Richard Harris
Blockchain should be a core component of your toolbox as a Python developer. Why? Because Python’s smooth syntax and robust libraries go hand-in-hand with the secure and powerful technology that is blockchain. Let’s explore how Python developers can benefit from learning how to build on a blockchain. We will unpack the learning curve, the core components of ...
Mobile game store launching from Microsoft in 2024
Monday, May 13, 2024 by Richard Harris
Months on from its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has revealed plans to launch its own mobile game store, with content including Minecraft and Candy Crush set to be available on the platform. Per Xbox president Sarah Bond, the store will be an alternative to the Apple App Store and Google Play, with its launch allowing Microsoft to break away from the res...
ATT user opt in insights from AppsFlyer
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 by Richard Harris
Since the rollout of Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) in April 2021, the landscape of user privacy and advertising in apps has significantly evolved. As of Q1 2024, there's a noticeable increase in user opt-in rates, with 51% of gaming app users and 46% of non-gaming app users consenting to tracking, reflecting rises of 10% and 3% respectively. Alongside ...
Epic Games defeats Google in court
Thursday, April 18, 2024 by Richard Harris
In a twist that sounds straight out of a high-stakes courtroom drama, Epic Games has thrown down the gauntlet with a bombshell injunction proposal aimed at shaking up Google Play's entire rulebook. This comes hot on the heels of their David-versus-Goliath victory over Google in December, where a U.S. jury cast the tech behemoth as the big bad monopoly wolf of Androi...
Playground gaming integrated into Le Monde daily newspaper
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 by Freeman Lightner
kr3m is broadening its global outreach with the launch of a new, exciting project. The company's online gaming platform, "Playground," has been integrated into the digital services offered by Le Monde, the premier daily newspaper in France. This partnership represents kr3m's inaugural foray into markets beyond German-speaking countries, signaling the b...
Publisher Portal for in game audio ad monetization from Odeeo
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 by Richard Harris
Odeeo has launched its new Publisher Portal which gives games publishers access to industry first comprehensive features, such as analytics and reporting tools previously only available for traditional display and video ads, including impressions, revenue and engagement rates.
Previously across the in-game audio ad industry, publishers had limited control over ad pla...
Epic Games defeats Apple in court
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 by Richard Harris
Apple’s iron-clad grip on its developer program may be losing its hold. Every day, Apple turns away hundreds of developers trying to enter their program. However, Epic Games wasn't folding to Apple. "Epic Games has entertained and benefited millions of users with Fortnite, Genshin Impact, and other games. Their application to have their flagship store on ...
Vision Pro app count up to 196 apps
Monday, January 29, 2024 by Richard Harris
New data from Appfigures suggests that Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset is facing a lukewarm response from app developers. As of the latest update, the Vision Pro's app store boasts just over 150 apps specifically designed for the device, a small fraction compared to the vast app store catalog of 1.8 million apps.
It's important to clarify that th...
Most popular digital gaming store in US is Amazon says Statista
Wednesday, January 24, 2024 by Freeman Lightner
A recent survey from data company Statista claims that Amazon is the most popular digital gaming store among United States gamers. The survey was conducted among 5,111 individuals who play video games and have spent money on digital purchases. The survey, which allowed multiple answers, asked the respondents "Where have you spent money online on digital video games...
E bike software Starmatter launches from Verge Motorcycles
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
The Starmatter platform announced by electric superbike manufacturer Verge Motorcycles is shaking up the entire vehicle industry. Starmatter offers automatic over-the-air updates (OTA), allowing Verge customers to access new functions and improvements for their motorcycles. In addition, the platform includes capabilities to utilize artificial intelligence and machine le...
WW2 mobile game Warpath reaches 30 million downloads
Friday, August 18, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
Lilith Games announced that Warpath, the free-to-play competitive RTS game available on PC, iOS, and Android devices, reached 30 million cumulative global downloads, further solidifying its reputation as one of the best military strategy games recognized by military game enthusiasts. Warpath is an epic military strategy simulator that tests players’ courage a...
The beginning of a new age of innovation and creation
Monday, January 23, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
2023 will be the beginning of a new age of innovation and the creation of new products and services as never been seen since the founding of the Internet.
The end of the mobile app distribution monopoly, the convergence of different platforms, and the recovery of power by users and developers will unleash a perfect storm that will mark the next decade.
An earthqua...
Crossword game Test Express Word Adventure launches
Tuesday, August 23, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
GameHouse has announced Text Express: Word Adventure, a vast and challenging emergent crossword puzzle game with an exciting and visual adventure narrative and huge variety in gameplay; spanning 3,500 levels, 37 destinations, over 95 speaking characters, and thousands of unique crossword puzzles. This beautiful and unique puzzle game is packed with rich environments to ...
3D geolocation capabilities for Widow Games apps
Thursday, April 28, 2022 by Richard Harris
NextNav has partnered with Widow Games, a gaming development company closing the gap between the physical and the digital worlds. Through the partnership, Widow Games will bring NextNav's 3D geolocation capabilities to their applications, enabling more immersive virtual experiences tied to the real environments of users, and leveraging location verification to valid...
Adobe metaverse innovations and integrations
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Adobe unveiled new innovations and integrations across Adobe Experience Cloud that empower brands to succeed in the metaverse and drive personalization to make the digital economy personal.
Advanced AI Features: Driving growth requires business-changing customer insights that can power personalized experiences. Artificial intelligence (AI) innovations in Adobe Exp...
Immersive AR and VR experiences from NextNav
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
NextNav announced they have partnered with echo3D. Through this partnership, NextNav’s vertical location service, Pinnacle, will provide echo3D developers with the crucial 3D location data needed to build immersive AR and VR content built on top of the physical world.
Over 16,000 developers rely on the echo3D platform for the tools and infra...
Apple gaming studio predictions for 2022
Monday, December 20, 2021 by Justin Welter
If Apple were a person, it would seem they are (still) living on top of the world. Still flush with cash, flexing those privacy muscles with the final rollout of iOS 14.5 and then benching more with iOS 15, and up 29% year over year. But like a senior year quarterback with three championships already to their name, expectations are high and when they’re not m...
2021 hackathon from NEAR
Friday, August 13, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
NEAR announced the first in a series of NEAR MetaBUIDL hackathons with $1 million in prizes until the end of the year. The first MetaBUIDL Hackathon runs from Aug 27 to Sep 12. Registration is open now.
Speakers and Activities at the 2021 hackathon from NEAR
They think it's a great opportunity for anyone interested in solving real-world problems that coul...
GDC 2021 event lineup
Tuesday, September 1, 2020 by Freeman Lightner
Informa Tech, the organizers of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), have revealed a new structure for virtual and physical GDC events for the rest of 2020 and 2021, which are continuing to evolve due to changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the inability to meet in person for the near future, organizers are expanding multiple aspects of its program. GDC 202...
Epic Games partners with Fortumo to launch carrier billing
Tuesday, June 9, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
The video game and software developer and publisher Epic Games and the mobile technology company Fortumo are announcing the launch of a carrier billing partnership. Epic Games has integrated Fortumo’s carrier billing platform to collect payments for Fortnite Battle Passes, game purchases in the Epic Games Store and other Epic Games content.
The first country wh...
What is Ossum
Thursday, October 3, 2019 by Thomas Hooker
Software development is not just coding, especially when working on a team. A developer spends time planning work, discussing requirements, reviewing work, testing, and deploying. To help with these tasks, teams often use a variety of tools, from issue trackers to source control to CI/CD tools. It's not unusual for a team to have a different supplier for each tool, ...
Oculus Connect 6 announcements
Thursday, September 26, 2019 by Richard Harris
Oculus Connect 6 unveiled Facebook Horizon, an interconnected and ever-expanding social VR world where people can explore new places, play games, and build communities - launching in beta in 2020. They announced hand tracking on Oculus Quest, which will enable natural interaction in VR using your own hands, all without the need for a controller, external sensors, gloves...
The Game of the Year winner is God of War announced at GDC 19
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Brittany Hainzinger
Sony Santa Monica & Sony Interactive Entertainment’s epic reimagining of the intense action/adventure series, God of War, was honored with the prize for Game of the Year at the 19th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony during the 2019 Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Sony’s God of War tel...
Everything Unity said at GDC 19
Thursday, March 21, 2019 by Brittany Hainzinger
Unity Technologie's keynote at GDC 19 was filled with new technological breakthroughs and partner announcements that showcased everything that developers need to create, operate and monetize for today and tomorrow. Key partners and customers from Tencent, Activision, Glu Mobile, and NVIDIA joined Unity to set the stage for a week filled with hands-on experiences, op...
Gaming industry trends released ahead of GDC 2019
Wednesday, January 30, 2019 by Richard Harris
The 2019 Game Developers Conference (GDC) has released the results of the seventh annual State of the Industry Survey, revealing trends in the game industry ahead of GDC 2019 in March.
The survey compiles responses from nearly 4,000 game developers and reflects that nearly half of game developers support game industry unionization, as well as uncertainty around Steam...
The Taiwan Tech Arena returns to CES 2019
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 by Richard Harris
A new epicenter of advanced consumer technology research and development will take center stage at CES 2019 when the Taiwan Tech Arena returns to CES 2019 to introduce the world to 44 of the most promising Taiwanese technology start-ups in the Taiwan Tech Arena located in the Eureka Park Marketplace in the Sands Expo & Convention Center at Booth #52443.
According...
What game developers can learn from Fortnite's rise
Friday, December 28, 2018 by Richard Harris
Fortnite took over the video game world in 2018 and reached over $1 billion in sales, reaching every gaming fan with experiences on all the major consoles, mobile operating systems and even streaming platforms like Twitch. However, Fortnite seems to have reached a plateau with a recent study by StreamElements revealing viewership of the game has steadily declined since ...
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures app launches by Mattel
Tuesday, September 18, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Barbie is giving an inside look into her famous Dreamhouse with the launch of Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, a brand new app based on the animated Netflix series by the same title that’s now available on Android devices. The popular iOS version, which debuted on the App Store last month, has already hit the #1 spot for Top iPad Kids App in 100+ countries.
Just i...
Fortnite for Android is a trailblazing risk for mobile banking
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 by Sam Bakken
CEO Tim Sweeny of Epic Games, the publisher of the wildly popular Fortnite game, is on a mission to “advance the openness of all platforms” - not to mention side-step Google’s 30% take of developer proceeds - by distributing Fortnite for the Android platform via their website rather than the Google Play store. I applaud a maverick challenging the statu...
Flaregames partners with MeeWow to publish Tap Empire
Friday, August 10, 2018 by Richard Harris
Mobile gaming publisher Flaregames announced the next imminent global launch in its Q3/Q4 line-up with hyper-casual idle game Tap Empire releasing 11th October on iOS and Android devices. This debut game from San Francisco studio MeeWow Games will be the third title from the Flaregames Accelerator and the second to launch in the next two months, with Super Spell Heroes,...
Fortnite to finally release for Android!
Monday, July 30, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Over one year from its a initial launch data, and nearly half a year from its iOS launch, Fortnite has finally announced the list of Android devices that will also soon support the popular video game. A full list of supported platforms is provided at the bottom of this article, but suffice it so say that a majority of newer Google, Huawei, Sony, Samsung, and Motorola ph...
Unreal Engine Marketplace says it will take less developer revenue
Wednesday, July 18, 2018 by Richard Harris
Epic Games has just made a sweeping change to the Unreal Engine Marketplace, whereby creators on the store will now receive 88% of their product sales, "an increase from the common 70% / 30% split of other digital stores."
The Unreal Engine Marketplace is a store targeting the Unreal Engine community, and enabling game developers to purchase digital co...
Avoid mobile cybersecurity threats by checking the source
Thursday, July 5, 2018 by Sam Bakken
Earlier this month IT news organizations around the globe reported that Epic Games’ popular Fortnite game was being counterfeited and malicious actors were, in fact, lacing the imposter apps with malware.
We’re only human, and people unwittingly let their guard down in anticipation of something they're passionate about, or when they think they might b...
