Apple’s EU app store changes, Roblox safety, Pokémon Go’s regional strategy and AI in Nordic studios | Week in Views
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.
Craig Chapple
Apple cuts EU alternative app store fees to 5%
Apple has faced a triple threat over the past week. In the EU, it’s proposed new terms that it claims “resolve” its dispute with the European Union.
The changes, which reduce fees and “complexity” - the latter which Apple itself created in trying to get around the Digital Markets Act, are set to go into effect on October 1st. That complexity, by the way, means there is now one set of terms for publishers, rather than two.
But is Apple’s “disagreement” with the European Commission really resolved as it says? There’s been no comment from the EU thus far, despite the tech giant’s claims it has worked in close collaboration with the EC. I sense the story is not over. Epic also isn’t happy about the proposal.
The Apple vs. Epic Games case rumbles on in the US looking for closure. Apple has proposed a deal like in the EU - a 15% commission for off-store purchases.
Epic, once again, was not happy.
“Apple's filing is in, and Apple admitted that under the Ninth Circuit's definition of 'necessary costs' they would charge 0% for purchases made via linkouts to the web," said Epic Games in a post.
Finally, Apple is planning changes to App Tracking Transparency for most EU countries. As we noted in our article, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office found that Apple’s ATT framework gave Apple’s own apps more favourable consent prompts than those shown to third-party developers, potentially breaching competition rules.
Indeed, the prevailing theory has been that, in the name of privacy, Apple has been able to scale its own ads business ever since ATT’s introduction.
Mobile Dev Memo’s Eric Seufert believes changes will nudge opt-in rates upward by a “non-trivial amount”. However, the impact will be “precedential rather than immediately economic”.
The linkout element of this triple-threat looks like it’s very slowly coming to a close - and not in Apple’s favour, unless the EU truly has agreed to Apple’s new terms.
ATT looks like a new battlefield for the coming years.
Paige Cook
US Senate to investigate Roblox over child safety concerns
Roblox is facing yet another investigation over child safety, this time from the US Senate. The senators are raising serious concerns over grooming and other alleged sexual abuse that is linked to the platform.
They even go as far as to say it appears that Roblox prioritises revenue and engagement over these safety concerns.
While I can appreciate that Roblox has expanded at an enormous rate, it is aimed at a young audience and therefore has to ensure it is built to keep them safe. If that means growth slows while the teams work on safety, then so be it.
I also understand Roblox has already tried to implement new measures such as age-based accounts and expanded parental controls, but questions remain about whether they are actually working.
Just this week, Australia's internet regulator found that adults could still contact children on Roblox despite the safety measures currently in place.
In that case, regulators have given Roblox three months to address the issues, so we’ll see what comes of these latest investigations, but I truly hope serious change comes.
Aaron Astle
Pokémon Go Fest, the National Trust and the value of exclusive regional campaigns
From a worldwide cultural takeover in 2016, to navigating lockdown restrictions, to an evolution from 151 Pokémon to more than any other game in the franchise, Pokémon Go has had one impactful decade.
After the geolocation giant celebrated its 10th anniversary this July, I had the chance to speak with head of EMEA marketing Jack Wilcock about planning events and campaigns, celebrating the milestone with a free edition of Go Fest and the impacts of regionally exclusive content.
We discussed Summer Quest, region-exclusive Pokémon species like the UK-only Stonjourner (inspired by Stonehenge) and a partnership with the National Trust to get people out exploring the country’s wild side.
As something of a Pokémon fanatic, this interview was a big one for me. I was still in school when Go released, and at the time I couldn't have imagined I’d be conducting an interview about it 10 years later.
At the same time, I'd like to think I put the fanboying to one side and focused on useful insights - learning about Go’s long planning cycles, how the team chooses locations for live events and more.
Mariam Ahmad
How Nordic studios are using AI, from legal risk to AI-native production
A few weeks ago I did a deep dive into how Chinese game studios are actually using AI. This time, I turned my attention to the Nordics.
I talked to five people across the region: studio founders, an AI-native studio co-founder, a games lawyer and a business development manager, about how they are using AI.
Dodreams' Mikael Gummerus talked about the ways in which AI has been utilised extensively for data analysis, but has barely made a dent in art or Unity dev yet. Odd Latent's Tatu Petersen-Jessen talks about his AI-native studio and how roles within the company are "collapsing" into one-person teams doing art, design and code.
There's also a great bit from Nordia Law's Tuomas Pelkonen on where the real risk sits now - Pelkonen warns that IP is no longer the main concern when it comes to liability, it’s actually player backlash and "shadow AI" nobody signed off on.
This will be a multi-part series so keep an eye out for part two, which is coming soon!
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