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.

America Vs Apple. What's at stake and what could happen next?

Regular readers will know that I’m a keen Apple watcher, both ready to praise and pour scorn on the company I ‘love’. So, following the EU’s DMA assault and Apple’s flippant ignoring of it I’ve been having a delightful 2024 keeping up with the latest.

Thus yesterday’s US Department of Justice bombshell is just icing on the cake for me professionally and personally.

We’ve known it for years. Apple locks its users in with features that can only be made possible thanks to them making the hardware and the software that work together. Get a hint of the gateway drug - be that the new iPhone, the latest high-powered laptop or (rather less likely) a speaker that only plays Apple Music - and before you know it you’re hoovering up the Apple Kool Aid and vowing never to go back.

I know. I’ve been there. I’m locked in an Apple prison… And I’m loving it.

But don’t get me wrong in this argument. If the DoJ can put more and better apps on my phone, reduce the price of that phone and encourage Apple to up their hardware game even further and faster then I’m pro DoJ.

When the DoJ took apart Microsoft at the start of the century they were prompted to finally start making an operating system that made sense and worked properly. So who knows what magic they can pull out of the otherwise secretive and stubborn Apple when given similar tough love.

I just hope that for those living in an Apple bubble things get better rather than worse that Apple is threatening.

Paige Cook Deputy Editor Paige is the Deputy Editor on PG.biz who, in the past, has worked in games journalism covering new releases, reviews and news. Coming from a multimedia background, she has dabbled in video editing, photography, graphic and web design! If she's not writing about the games industry, she can probably be found working through her ever-growing game backlog or buried in a good book.

Analytics firm Sensor Tower has just bought rival, Data.ai

I don’t think people saw this one coming and if they did I think many would have assumed it would more than likely be Data.ai snapping up Sensor Tower, but here we are, and what does it mean?

It’s hard to ignore the obvious which is that, in the short term, this will lead to more layoffs. When two companies doing the same thing merge, you inevitably get people doing the same jobs. I imagine many people working for both are feeling nervous about what’s to come next and given how many layoffs we have already seen, it’s tough to think that more are likely to follow.

One of the most interesting points about this is that by combining forces, they now have no big competitor to oppose them and I have to wonder if no competition is a good thing. I’m personally not sure that it is. When you think about how many game companies use services like this daily, it gives them a lot of power, and I’m sure that on the more positive side of things that also means that with a combined effort the data they actually provide will probably be even better than before but does that also mean eventually they’ll charge more? I’m still unsure about how this one will play out and I’m not yet entirely convinced on how the industry overall will benefit from the acquisition, but time will tell.

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.

Roblox’s $35M Creator Fund to support short-form video content

The Roblox platform is already used by more than 60 million people every single day, and it looks like that number’s only going to go up with short-form video content on the way. If TikTok really does go down in the US, perhaps Roblox will be the company to take its place in the space, with so large an audience already behind it, full of Gen Z and Alpha fans with attention spans juuust long enough to handle a quick video clip.

Roblox has launched a $35 million Creator Fund to support "next-gen experiences" like this on the platform and has already tested the waters with longer-form videos, like the premiere of the 2023 Bakugan reboot ahead of its Netflix release.

Short-form content, though? That could prove an entirely different beast. For all we know, we may be on the precipice of Roblox’s latest industry-defining move, with the potential to rival YouTube and TikTok for video content. Or, maybe not. But it’s an exciting thought either way.