Facebook’s new website lets fans buy ‘Stars’ without paying the app stores’ commissions

Meta (formerly Facebook) has found a new way to avoid the app stores’ commissions on in-app purchases with the launch of a new website where people can buy “Stars” — the virtual items that allow fans to express their support for favorite creators during Facebook videos and livestreams. Typically, Stars are bought as in-app purchases […]

Final Fantasy 7 Battle Royale Doesn’t Just Work, It’s Tight

While Fortnite remains banned from Apple’s walled garden, there’s no shortage of battle royales to play on Android and iOS devices, especially with big-names like Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile available. But we now have a new PvEvP experience th…

This Week in Apps: Apple defends app ad buying, Spotify gains lyrics, Instagram kills Threads

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spending in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes […]

This Week in Apps: Court orders Apple to implement App Store changes, 2022 forecast, TikTok tries gaming

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes […]

Tencent shares its metaverse vision for the first time

How could Tencent not jump on the metaverse bandwagon when Facebook is hinging its future on the new buzzword? At this stage, Tencent’s approach seems more measured than Facebook’s $10 billion investment into its metaverse division. But any early hint from the Chinese social media and gaming giant will provide enough fodder for investor speculation. During […]

Fortnite Boss Slams Billionaire Tax He Doesn’t Seem To Fully Understand

Surprise, surprise, Epic Games founder, Tim Sweeney, is not a fan of the new billionaire tax being proposed in Congress at the moment. The CEO of the company, which prints money thanks to Fortnite, said the tax would possibly “end founder control” of E…

Apple updates its App Store Guidelines to permit developers to contact customers about other payment methods

Apple today introduced a new set of App Store Guidelines that include three key changes. One of the changes is the result of a previously announced settlement agreement with a class of U.S. app developers. It clarifies that developers are allowed to communicate with their customers about other payment methods available outside their app. Related […]

Epic Games Faces Staff Uproar Over Ending Popular Time-Off Policy

Epic Games, creator of the massively popular and lucrative battle royale Fortnite, decided to end a popular policy of allowing staff every other Friday off earlier this week. According to a new report by Bloomberg, which a source corroborated for Kotak…