22min chapter

PocketGamer.biz Podcast cover image

Week in Views E09 - Supercell's Squad Busters goes global, Embracer Group splits, and Apple's Vision Pro flops

PocketGamer.biz Podcast

CHAPTER

Tech Monetization, TikTok Controversies, and Emulators

This chapter covers the financial success of a monetization service and its entry into the webshop space, along with the latest controversies surrounding TikTok including US legislation pressures. It discusses TikTok's influence on teenagers, data privacy concerns, a rewards program in the EU, and the delta emulator for Nintendo games on iOS. The speakers debate the ethics of illegal emulation, Call of Duty's mobile success, the FTC's ban on non-compete clauses, and the implications of the Digital Market Act.

00:00
Speaker 2
that offers financial monetization services to track revenue and payments it's raised 13 and a half million dollars to date from investors including London Venture Partners and Convoy Ventures and it's now entered the webshop space helping developers build their own stores outside of the apps or people play while also powering those payments so it's basically a continuation of the trend into webshops with big mobile publishers for example PlayTaker is proving how lucrative that could be and I had a look and in its 2023 financials it said that 25% of its revenue is coming from its direct to consumer platform so there's a lot of interest in this stuff obviously you don't have to pay the 30% share you can pay as little as like 5% and then the other big story of the week I felt like I get to do all the stories I really wanted to do um TikTok with the headline TikTok gets it in the face from the US as you go cool
Speaker 1
cool all TikTok everyone hates TikTok they can't they can't catch a break and it's all happened this week yeah amazing
Speaker 2
so the news is that for some reason the divest or ban bill was back in the house of representatives so we reported out previously but anyway it was back and it got passed by the house representatives and then it went to the the senate as part of a foreign aid package deal so that included aid for Ukraine which I think was like sixty-five billion dollars um so it kind of was very very likely to get passed because of that and then now it's been signed by president Biden and basically the legislation gives by dance nine months with a possible three month extension to sell TikTok or be blocked in the US so TikTok is obviously furious and it's about to fight the bad I I've read the appeals that could end up in the supreme court could mean we won't actually see a ban for like two years and also if Donald Trump becomes president I haven't read this anyway I'm just wondering even though he was the one that kicked all this off might he he's now changed his mind so I'm wondering can he reverse it if he gets into power and say no we're not banning TikTok anymore I don't know it seems likely to me but maybe because it's already all been signed it's it's too late
Speaker 1
it's it's a tricky one yeah it's a bit of a tight rope to to bring him to trade because he need needed to say he'd love to take the opposite side of any argument to president Biden but yeah whether he wants to fully embrace the TikTok loving masses that's that sounds like a good move but ultimately it's hard this legislation is to is to stop nefarious Chinese invasion of American citizens privacy so yeah I wonder which side of the fence a new president Trump would come down on really yeah he could make make the TikTok TikTok fans very happy but at the price of American civil liberty I yeah I one thing for certain you can't predict what what Donald Trump's gonna do really so um we'd best not bother but yeah if he gets in it's gonna be this is I think it's gonna it's it's all gonna get undone so and as you say it's gonna be two years before before this could be fully enacted and enforced anyway so yeah it's yeah it's it's it's a it's a it's a messy business but yeah the thing I just I just feel sorry for all the the the teenagers in tears holding placards you know that we've seen on the news so yeah I just want them to be happy I want them to have to have their TikTok in whatever form so yeah if someone's gonna buy yeah that that that that that that would save the day
Speaker 2
for for them figures also the news this week we have that in I guess tip for tat isn't isn't very good way to look at things but you know China has I think forced apple to remove what's that and I can't remember now instagram off of the China app store so you know if if China gets angry about this it's like well but you you kind of block these things on your end when it happens in the US there's like well what do you do it you can't do this over potentially serious privacy and national security concerns whether you believe that or not
Speaker 3
yeah because tik tok was saying that yeah it goes against like freedom of speech and they should be allowed to stay without you know without any americans being involved basically but it's like the whole getting a license to release again in China like you need Chinese publisher to work but so it's just the universe really yeah
Speaker 2
it seems a bit hypocritical in some ways but I guess that that's not really how it works but anyway oh
Speaker 3
and they've said they're not owned by China
Speaker 2
but if they have to sell they'd have to get money and but I think we spoke about the podcast a few weeks ago a month ago so but it was like what happens the journalist I think his details were kind of passed on to authorities in China it's like well that kind of that kind of proves the concerns right and also potentially what does tik tok do it obviously has to defend itself but it also then also proves politicians' points when it puts on to tik tok call up your call up your local representatives to tell them not to ban tik tok like that's how we influential it is so yeah I do believe the freedom of speech argument but it also like oh that's how influential it is if tik tok tells you to do something you
Speaker 1
might do it yeah that was that was an amazing amazing mistake really yeah thus proving the point of how much power this app has over over our nation's teenagers we told them to do this and they did it it's like I'm like this is exactly why we need to ban this but
Speaker 2
but they're like you know that's it's also a reasonable thing for people to do so it gets confusing but the other part of this tik tok story very quickly was was that uh in the EU they're testing a rewards program with tik tok light that gives you money for watching videos and the EU is very unhappy about this because they're worried about they have concerns about addiction and so they're also fretted out of bad tik tok or at least as you don't know at least tik
Speaker 3
tok light it's getting rid of that term the subscription thing I think or whatever you call it you know the monetized side it sounds so bad we yeah it sounds too much like we're
Speaker 1
gonna give you fraction it is literally we're gonna pay you to sit and hoover about adverts and yeah it don't sound doesn't sound right I mean I'm not sure why what law you can get them on but yeah fundamentally it made me when I read about it the first time I kind of made me wins you know yeah fractions of pennies to watch rubbish is it's come on there's there's better things to do with your time
Speaker 3
frankly yeah I think the EU introduced the new law recently anyway to do with like big companies have to release a like a risk assessment before they make an update so I think that's where they're getting tik tok on on this one because they didn't do that in time interested
Speaker 2
I think to relate to a little bit to gauge you know play to earn is a big thing about that big thing it's a thing and so it maybe is different but also if the EU is looking at this maybe one day why not maybe they have concerns about that so anyway that's so that's that's it for my that's it for my news roundup but Daniel you've got some hot news to talk about that you're definitely
Speaker 1
opinionated on as well yeah I mean cherry picture picking my favorites from from this week yeah just the delta emulator and the state of play yeah it's not going to go away it's not going to go away anytime soon unless something really really drastic comes the I mean the story this morning was that it's been available for a week and 4.4 million downloads have taken place that that's that's at least 4.4 million downloads because if that's purely just for the app itself not the version of the app which is inside the old store app in case you've been you've missed the missed all this basically delta emulator is a Nintendo games emulator that runs on iOS and while it comes with no Nintendo games on board it's very easy to find these Nintendo games you know far away from me to tell you how to do it but but you can literally google the name of a game and find it but yeah you can now and then thanks to the digital market tech opening up iOS in in in Europe it's easier than ever to then sideload these these games into the into the delta app and play lovely versions of Nintendo classics for zero pence it's amazing how we've we've we've got to this stage you know previously Apple over in a very tight ship that you know everyone knows their iOS was was was huge huge lockdown and then being forced to open up to alternative app stores via the digital market tech in Europe they did that obeying the rules to the letter then in a bit of a panic thinking that um did alternative app stores were then going to be swamped with emulators they then allowed emulators in the front door as well just so that they didn't all go into alternative app stores and now we're in this idiotic position where you know the the number one downloaded app is an app which basically while not offering illegal software basically allows you to play illegal software that you acquire um Akiloy wonder as to what the conversations between apple and and nintendo are but yeah it's looking like uh apple are basically obeying the letter of the law to the absolute letter uh and basically saying you wouldn't let us police our store and now we're just going to walk away from it so yeah that's that's that's the state play with app 4.4 million people uh this month this week uh next week i'll drop in how many folks who are uh playing illegal nintendo games i can only think that it's gonna get shut down somehow the the actual proper law must step in at some point and and block this but but yeah apple are being obligly allowing openness on the on their store and a giant such as nintendo can't be happy about it that's where that's out um we
Speaker 2
we spoke about it uh last week so i wait like go to to your dl but as i said before like it it shouldn't be up to apple to police the internet and i think the fact that 4.4 million people have downloaded this maybe suggests that this actually is a good thing that you can you can release new products that you wouldn't be able to release before so this is one example maybe you say it's it's a bad one but what else could be really i know this is specifically about emulation outside the EU so does it clasp for loads of other types of that you know what else could be released in future that was not allowed before when apple was less open and i think that's kind of quite exciting
Speaker 1
oh yeah i can't wait to see what's around the corner i just feel for you know seeing these classics available for free of course as as a punter myself i think it's it's a brilliant thing but you know just as as you know naps to giving away everyone's back catalog for free back in the day and and the illegal downloading of movies the people who put blood sweat and tears and time into into creating masterpieces only for them to be pissed away for free shall we say uh i have to sort of stand up and say i i you know i i i value these things as art and and any kind of nefarious blundering giving away of it i you know i i i'm not on board uh so yeah i as a conscientious objector i've not downloaded the the delta emulator and not nor shall i you know not shy until until i'm allowed to put money in it and make sure that it goes to the to the right person i love it but that's just me one person versus four point four million yeah who's who's right anyway but
Speaker 3
you're on a podcast so you can spread the message yeah yeah delete
Speaker 1
the delete the delta emulator do the right thing
Speaker 2
i need a start for this podcast we've got like errands against tiptoe you're against these regulators well i i need something yeah yeah yeah
Speaker 1
so yeah you need we we're all wearing a t-shirt with something written on the front and so yeah you need you need you need to yeah pick a side get on it um other stuff i've got uh that i found interesting um call of duty uh was on mobile is making a load of cash hurrah but not really that much when you look at it compared to um the previous card you do what's the numbers again let me get some better me yeah six point nine two million in its first month which is more than enough money for anyone but um yeah its successor brought in forty four million uh in the same same month uh following its launch um i just wonder what's what's what's going on i just think it's it's you know it's great that you're making a new game i just feel like it's a little a little too confusing perhaps the college duty um uh mobile fans are perfectly happy with what they've got i think while was on mobile is a great implementation of it i'm not sure about the um the kind of the cross play element i just feel like maybe it's sort of holding all of it back all the platforms back a bit um but
Speaker 2
i think mainly it's just cross progression yeah yes indeed yeah crossbar
Speaker 1
but i think it's it's it's just a bit of a confusing message really i think people are a little bit called duty down and and they don't see the point of of this new thing so um yeah it's yeah it's making money but it's not it's not the smash it that it was and i wonder what they can do to to get folks on board really it's it's kind of as good as it can be but it's not an attractive proposition for for fans of the existing game and and new folks i think everyone's perfectly happy with the with the um the existing mobile title um other stuff i found it very interesting was uh uh the FTC uh has banned non-compete clauses in in tech contracts which sounds really boring and sounds like the sort of thing that that isn't particularly anything to do with us apart from uh the majority of people that listen to uh this podcast perhaps and and read their pocket game adopters will have some kind of non-compete cause clause in in their country a non-compete complete clause is the thing that prevents you from stealing all your company secrets be sold in theory because and taking a better paid job with arrival and uh and chopping and changing uh from company to company so it's it's an interesting fact
Speaker 2
it doesn't stop you take uh sorry yeah a non-compete doesn't stop you taking company secrets like that's a separate part of the contract so non-compete is really just punitive action really against someone that wants to progress their career like if you took a client then you can't do that yeah
Speaker 1
i think the the assumption was was that we have to have this non-competeed to protect ourselves but whereas yeah whereas ultimately it was it was making it harder for your talent to jump ship um it's an interesting story because because the removal of this allows is it allows freedom and that's and that's a good thing um so so i think that there'll be you'd be more justified in being able to um seek a better paid job and uh and move so that so that's good
Speaker 2
the one thing i wanted to touch upon on on is uh that we kind of spoke about kind of as a team was that i mean sometimes people are like well a non-compete is it enforceable yeah and i think maybe a lot of times they're not but that's not the that's not the point to me so i it's like if you have a non-compete that lasts i don't know six months a year whatever if you break that and then your employer says no you can't do that it's then on to you to defend yourself so you can either ignore it and hope it goes away if it doesn't go away i'm not again all lawyers always say but i think you get penalized potentially for ignoring it um but to fight it proper if if you want proper legal representation like of course you thousands thousands of pounds thousands of thorns you know lawyers charge a few hundred pounds an hour a good one to to defend this stuff so you have to defend yourself against something that they might not even be able to enforce anyway that's that's where part of the issue i think for people come in you can't just sit you can't just sit ignore it necessarily so i'm very happy to see that it's been bad and that's one of the reasons i am happy to see it yeah to
Speaker 1
see it go yeah i think um i mean having worked as a journalist for for for quite some time i've seen non-compete clauses in in my contract which basically really between the lines says um you're not allowed to leave this company and take a job as a journalist anywhere else and when i when you highlight them and say this is ridiculous they say bh i'd about what it literally said to me oh don't worry about that it's just one of those things just ignore
Speaker 2
it so whether that was true don't worry about it until they get out of it
Speaker 1
whether that was true or not i don't know i still signed the contract but yeah i i in that field it's i've never seen anybody i think everyone these kind of contracts and these kind of lines within these contracts are sort of uh included on in uh on autopilot these days they hope that it's going to scare you off from from moving so yeah
Speaker 2
eliminating but but they but that's not always the case yeah eliminating
Speaker 1
eliminating them is a good thing sometimes they get very angry
Speaker 2
and
Speaker 1
we'll we yes i've heard that that happens um but the thing the bigger thing that i worry about is is is it's going to allow people that you know that essentially could close the skills gap that a lot of folks have got in that some a a whole new lineup of talent could make themselves appear and and be ready for your company being a big a long established one or a new startup you know that they're speculating that there's going to be 8500 new startups are going to spring up because um of the sudden availability of talent once this once these clauses are removed um yeah it sounds sounds good but you know at the same time as these people can now hire who they want you know their their top staff will be looking to to to move somewhere else so uh yeah and if wages go up employees are happy happier everyone's going to get paid more but ultimately there's less profits for the companies and and and the startups because their wages build is going to go up some it'll be interesting to see how it how it resolves itself uh final thing for me i know i mentioned it last last week um we did um create a part in a a dma breakdown webinar which we've written a big report on on the site uh which which is lots of great dma advice and lots of confidence in the digital market act to to write the ship and correct everything so yeah i would i would say do you have a search for digital market act on on the pocket game adopt this and uh and check out that that that that that article which i think spells out what this all really means and and where it where it could go and how it could really help your app uh once the once the the random stuff has has died down but yeah that's that's that's the pick of pick of my bunch anyway for
Speaker 2
this week yeah that's so yeah just uh yeah that was that was a good webinar i'd uh definitely read the article but also uh Archie Stonehill at stash he was clearly uh a very a huge expert on on this topic and i actually learned quite a few things myself uh while on there um so yeah definitely worth checking out right so moving on to uh Aaron now so obviously we teased it earlier more than teased but yeah you've been in Sweden and you've been speaking with other people
Speaker 3
at

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode