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What the Asha Sharma Appointment Actually Means
Why great games (and great bands) are built by people who actually give a sh*t
Why are major studios suddenly throwing a third of their media budgets at loyalty platforms? VYBS founder Ido Raz breaks down the channel everyone dismissed as "cheap installs" that's now fueling the industry's fastest growth.
Posted by Robbie McLachlan - Developer Marketing In our latest #WeArePlay stories, we meet the founders building apps and games that are making health and wellness fun and easy for everyone on Google Play. From getting heavy sleepers jumping into their mornings, to turning mental wellness into an immersive adventure game. Here are a few of our favorites: Jay, founder of Delightroom Seoul, South Korea With over 90 million downloads, Jay‘s app Alarmy helps heavy sleepers to get moving with smart, challenge-based alarms. While studying computer science, Jay’s biggest challenge wasn’t debugging code, it was waking up for his morning classes. This struggle sparked an idea: what if there were an app that could help anyone get out of bed? Jay built a basic version and showcased it at a tech event, where it quickly drew attention. That prototype evolved into Alarmy , an app that uses creative missions, like solving math problems, doing squats, or snapping a photo, to get people moving so they fully wake up. Now available in over 30 languages and 170+ countries, Jay and his team are expanding beyond alarms, adding sleep tracking and wellness features to help even more people start their day right. Ellie and Hazel , co-founders of Mind Monsters Games Cambridge, UK Ellie and Hazel’s game, Betwixt, makes mental wellness more fun by using an interactive story to reduce anxiety. While working in London’s tech scene and later writing about psychology, Ellie noticed a pattern: many people turned to video games to ease stress but struggled to engage with traditional meditation. That’s when she came up with the idea to combine the two. While curating a book on mental health, she met Hazel—a therapist, former world champion boxer, and game lover and together they created Betwixt , an interactive fantasy adventure that guides players on a journey of self-discovery. By blending storytelling with evidence-based techniques, the game helps reduce anxiety and promote well-being. Now, with three new projects in development, Ellie and Hazel strive to turn play into a mental health tool. Kevin and Robin, co-founders of MapMyFitness Boulder (CO), U.S. Kevin and Robin’s app, MapMyFitness, helps a global community of runners and cyclists map their routes and track their training. Growing up across the Middle East, the Philippines, and Africa, Kevin developed a fascination with maps. In San Diego, while training for his second marathon, he built a simple MapMyRun website to map his routes. When other runners joined, former professional cyclist Robin reached out with a vision to also help cyclists discover and share maps. Together they founded MapMyFitness in 2007 and launched MapMyRide soon after, blending Kevin’s technical expertise and Robin's athletic know-how. Today, the MapMy suite powers millions of walkers, runners, and riders with adaptive training plans, guided workouts, live safety tracking, and community challenges—all in support of their mission to “get everybody outside". Discover more #WeArePlay stories from founders across the globe.
One pretend Swede is moving to Cyprus, and it's not for the beaches. This small Mediterranean island is becoming Europe's unlikeliest game development powerhouse, with major studios like Wargaming and Owlcat Games leading the charge.
As part of our ongoing commitment to helping developers succeed on the App Store, we’re introducing new options for submitting content and updates while your app is in review, double the number of custom product pages, and offer codes for all In-App Purchase types. Submit additional items to App Review Now you can send additional items to App Review independent of an existing submission, giving you greater flexibility when submitting your apps and games. For example, you can now submit: One or more In-App Events in a separate submission if you have an app version under review. An app version to address a critical bug that’s separate from any existing custom product pages under review. One or more Game Center features — including achievements, leaderboards, challenges, and more — in a submission that’s separate from an app version under review. Learn more about submitting Create double the number of custom product pages and add keywords Custom product pages let you highlight different content and features within your app or game using unique screenshots, app previews, and promotional text. To provide you with even more flexibility, you can now create and publish up to 70 custom pages at a given time. Additionally, you can now assign keywords to each custom product page so they’re more discoverable on the App Store. Custom product pages with keywords assigned to them can appear in search results for those selected keywords instead of your default product page. Learn more about custom product pages Offer codes expand to all In-App Purchase types Offer codes now support all In-App Purchase types, including consumable, non-consumable, and non-renewing subscriptions, in addition to expanded support for auto-renewable subscriptions. With offer codes, you can present people with a limited-time offer for a free or discounted In-App Purchase. This allows you to share the value of your In-App Purchases and encourage engagement and purchases within your apps and games. This expanded support includes the ability to create offer codes for: Consumable, non-consumable, and non-renewing subscriptions. Auto-renewable subscriptions that don’t auto-renew once the promotional period ends. Schedule 1 and the Paid Applications Agreement (Schedules 2 and 3) will be updated to indicate that offer codes are available for all In-App Purchase types.¹ Promo codes for In-App Purchases Offer codes build on the functionality of promo codes and provide improved configuration and customer eligibility options. As a result, starting March 26, 2026, you’ll no longer be able to create promo codes for In-App Purchases in App Store Connect. Any existing promo codes for In-App Purchases you’ve created can be redeemed until they expire. You can continue to use promo codes in order to provide people with a free download of your app. Learn about creating offer codes Learn about offer codes for auto-renewable subscriptions Implementing offer codes ¹ Translations of the updated agreement will be available on the Apple Developer website within one month.
Former Take-Two CEO Ben Feder explores how AI is redefining creativity in gaming and why his new fund, Tirta Ventures, is investing in the next wave of intelligent game studios.
From China’s regulation reset to SEA’s new payment ecosystems, Asia is setting the rules for the next era of gaming.
An ultra deep dive into Newzoo’s gaming market report that leaves no graphs unturned.
Posted by Robbie McLachlan - Developer Marketing In our latest #WeArePlay stories, we meet the founders building apps and games that power entrepreneurs and business owners around the world. From digitizing finances for micro-merchants in Bogotá to modernizing barbershops in New York, they are solving real-world challenges with intuitive apps. Here are a few of our favorites: Lluís and Man Hei’s app Treinta saves microbusiness owners 30 minutes a day by digitizing their sales, inventory, and cash flow. Lluís Cañadell and Man Hei Lou, co-founders of Treinta Bogotá, Colombia After meeting at university, Lluís and Man Hei reunited to launch Treinta , an app inspired by Lluís’ experience with small businesses across Latin America. Named after the Spanish word for '30,' it helps microbusiness owners save at least 30 minutes a day by digitizing tasks like inventory, sales tracking, and cash flow management. With a recent expansion into the U.S. and upcoming AI tools, they are on track to reach their goal of 100,000 premium members by 2026. Ying, Yong, Steve, and Oswald’s app Glints uses AI-powered recommendations to make hiring talent quick and easy. Seah, Yong, Steve, and Oswald, co-founders of Glints Singapore, Singapore High school friends Ying, Yong, Steve, and Oswald bonded over a shared vision to use technology for good, which led them to create Glints . What began as an internship portal in Singapore evolved into a dynamic hiring app after they saw an opportunity to tackle underemployment among young people in Indonesia. The app streamlines the job search with AI-powered recommendations and direct chat features, creating new career opportunities and helping companies find top talent. Their goal is to expand into more cities and become Indonesia's leading career app. Dave and Songe’s app SQUIRE helps barbers manage and grow their business with an all-in-one platform. Dave and Songe, co-founders of SQUIRE New York, USA Former lawyer Songe and finance expert Dave saw an opportunity to modernize the cash-reliant barbershop industry. With no prior experience, they took over a struggling Manhattan barbershop while developing SQUIRE . The app, which initially focused on appointment scheduling and digital payments, has since evolved into a complete management platform with Point of Sale, inventory tracking, and analytics — helping barbers run their businesses more efficiently. Now, they're adding more customization options and plan to expand SQUIRE's capabilities to continue elevating the modern barbershop experience. Discover other inspiring app and game founders featured in #WeArePlay .
Posted by Robbie McLachlan – Developer Marketing In our latest #WeArePlay film, which celebrates the people behind apps and games on Google Play, we meet Hugo, the founder of Maliyo Games . He is on a mission to put African stories and talent on the global gaming map by creating vibrant games inspired by local life and culture. Discover how he is building not just games, but an entire ecosystem for game development on the continent. You went from a career in finance to becoming a pioneer in Africa's games industry. What inspired that leap? I’ve always had a passion for economics and business, but after some years in finance, I wanted to move back to Nigeria and help build something new. I noticed a problem on our continent: we were huge consumers of digital content but not creators. Seeing the passion for our local music and film, I knew we could bring that same energy to gaming. My mission became clear: to shift us from being 'net consumers' to 'net creators,' using games as a medium to take our unique stories and culture to the world. Your games are bursting with African culture. Why is it so important to you to tell these specific stories? Because these are our stories to tell! I think of us as storytellers first, and games are our medium. We create games based on shared experiences from our childhoods, we feature things everyone can relate to like our love for property development and redesign in Safari City . When people in Africa play our games, the reaction is pure joy and surprise. They say, “I can’t believe you guys built this!” because they see themselves and their lives reflected. It's not just about enjoyment; it’s about a deeper, emotional connection. Building a game studio where there was no established industry must have been tough. How did you tackle the challenge of finding and nurturing talent on the continent? It was definitely hard. When we started in 2012, the biggest challenge wasn't just finding skills, but finding the right mindset; so we started GameUp Africa , a free, pan-African training program. It was a longer road, for sure, but it has transformed everything. Today, 90% of our team came through that program. We're now a team of about 30 people from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and more. Seeing these young, brilliant creators, some as young as 17, building their careers with us is the most satisfying part of what I do. How has Google Play helped you achieve global reach from your base in Lagos? For us, Google Play was a no-brainer. Africa is primarily an Android market, so it's our primary distribution platform to reach our audience here and in the diaspora. But it's more than just a storefront; it’s the entire infrastructure. We use the full suite of tools: Firebase’s analytics give us incredible insights into player behaviour, Google AdMob helps us monetize, and the testing tools let us experiment with new features. Google Play makes it possible for a studio in Lagos to build, scale, and operate as a truly global company without having to build that foundation ourselves. What is next for Maliyo Games? Now, our sights are set on growth. The next big goal is to get one of our games to one million monthly active users, as we build towards our long-term ambition of reaching an engaged community of 500 million by 2030. Discover other inspiring app and game founders featured in #WeArePlay .
Hacker News
“GPT-5.5's API pricing is reshaping how startups build AI products”
