The games industry moves quickly and while stories may come and go there are some that we just can’t let go of…
So, to give those particularly thorny topics a further going over we’ve created a weekly digest where the members of the PocketGamer.biz team share their thoughts and go that little bit deeper on some of the more interesting things that have happened in mobile gaming in the past week.
Daniel Griffiths
Editor – PocketGamer.biz
Daniel Griffiths is a veteran journalist who has worked on some of the biggest entertainment media brands in the world. He’s interviewed countless big names, and covered countless new releases in the fields of videogames, music, movies, tech, gadgets, home improvement, self build, interiors and garden design. Yup, he said garden design… He’s the ex-Editor of PSM2, PSM3, GamesMaster and Future Music, ex-Deputy Editor of The Official PlayStation Magazine and ex-Group Editor-in-Chief of Electronic Musician, Guitarist, Guitar World, Rhythm, Computer Music and more. He hates talking about himself.
Apple rolls out Unity-like Runtime Fee for downloads as it seeks to outrun new EU regulations
I’m going to keep it short this week as most of what I’d like to say has been covered off in excellent articles above, here and here already.
But wow… Did they just do that? Yes they did. Do they honestly believe that nobody will mind and that the Digital Markets Act legislation will be appeased by some rule and regulation changes and a few new fees? Yes, it seems so.
I can only bring to mind the uproar of the Unity Runtime Fee Farrago and the blizzard of critisicm that hit the company so hard that they had to sack their CEO, backtrack on their original aims and are arguably still licking their wounds today. For anyone at Apple who’s not up to speed with the story I suggest you head here.
And if Apple can weather this one than they’re even more powerful than we all think.
Craig Chapple
Head of Content
Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.
How Playdemic’s founders are following up their $1 billion Golf Clash success with new studio ForthStar
Former Playdemic CEO Paul Gouge revealed his new studio with long-time business co-founder Alex Rigby this week called ForthStar. But why now? App tracking transparency has rocked the mobile games industry, inflation has made money harder to come by, while the sector is flush with regular layoffs.
But in my interview, Gouge was there to offer some perspective during these tough times.
“In my experience of being in video games, which is quite a long time, I’m regularly told that this is the hardest time to ever launch a games business,” says Gouge. “So this won’t be the first time anyone told me this is a really bad time to start a company.
“What I try to do is not get too caught up in the particular moment that we’re in, and think more generally.
“At any particular period, you can zoom into video games and go, oh, this is a really bad time. If you zoom out, and you see the journey of the growth of our industry, of the incredible scale that we now have, I think it is just a massive success story.
“Think back to where we were 20 years ago, the market growth is phenomenal.”
His words don’t make what’s happening to many developers right now any easier. I was very much surprised to see leading UK recruitment agency One Player Mission (OPM) is closing this week, which highlights just how tough business is.
But Gouge’s words offer some hope and inspiration, that new opportunities will arise in this industry, and things won’t always be this way. (Not that Apple wants anything to change, mind).
Aaron Astle
News Editor
Aaron is the News Editor at PG.biz and has an honours degree in Creative Writing.
Having spent far too many hours playing Pokémon, he’s now on a quest to be the very best like no one ever was…at putting words in the right order.
AI vs NFTs… What’s really the next big thing in games?
At PGC London this week, I sat in on plenty of panels and talks and heard a whole range of opinions on the state of the games industry – across every subject from cross-platform power to AI to voice acting, and even cyborgs.
Of course, AI was the big one. And in one such discussion, it was especially interesting to see the diverging opinion of panellists as to whether it’s a net good or bad for the games industry. In the short-term at least, it’s allowing cheap and fast work and giving indie devs more of a chance to compete. But there are rightful concerns of even more layoffs ahead if AI is able to replace employees, not to mention the legal grey area that is AI-generated content.
The future may be uncertain, but for right now, AI has certainly replaced NFTs as the “next big conversation”.
