The new law mandating that the platforms pay the couriers more — at least $18 per hour starting in October — was supposed to go into effect in July, before the companies sued to obtain a restraining order.

Judge Nicholas Moyne of the State Supreme Court put the new law on hold while he deliberated, but on Thursday he ruled against the plaintiffs and said the legislation could take force.

“In rain, snow, sleet, hail and heat, our delivery workers have consistently delivered for us — and now we can finally deliver for them,” Mayor Eric Adams said as he welcomed the ruling.

“A living wage for thousands of workers in New York City is a huge achievement that will make huge changes for ‘deliveristas,'” said Gustavo Ajche, leader of a movement called “Los Deliveristas Unidos.”

In New York these workers are often referred to as “deliveristas” since many are immigrants from Latin American countries.

DoorDash called the decision disappointing, saying the mandated wage hike was extreme and would “reduce opportunity and increase costs for all New Yorkers.” 

Uber, Doordash and Grubhub can file an appeal.

The new minimum wage is supposed to go up to $20 an hour by 2025 for the city’s 60,000 app-based food delivery workers.

New York says it is the first city in the United States to take such a step, which comes amid persistent debate about the gig economy and workers who lack the status of full-blown employees of a company — and the benefits that would come with those positions.

Deliveristas became heros during the Covid-19 pandemic as people relied on them when restaurants, bars and stores closed to curb the spread of disease.

The city released a study in November 2022 that concluded these delivery workers made an average of about $14 an hour at that time if tips were included, but only $7 without tips, from which $3 per hour in non-reimbursed expenses had to be subtracted.

The post NY judge says pay raise for delivery workers can go ahead appeared first on Digital Journal.

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology and finance, certain events have the power to send ripples throughout the industry. One such event that has captured the attention of professional traders and investors is the remarkable initial public offering (IPO) of Arm Holdings Plc. This chip designer, with a rich history and an even brighter future, recently made its trading debut, marking one of the most significant financial moments of the year. This article explores the excitement surrounding Arm’s IPO, its implications for the market, and the strategic decisions that led to its success.

A Stellar Debut

Arm Holdings Plc, still predominantly owned by SoftBank Group Corp., made a resounding entry into the public markets, experiencing a 25% surge in its trading debut. This achievement was the result of a meticulously planned IPO that raised an impressive $4.87 billion, making it the largest IPO of the year 2023. The closing price of Arm’s shares in New York settled at $63.59, instantly propelling its market value beyond $65 billion.

What’s particularly noteworthy is that Arm’s IPO has been a vindication for SoftBank’s founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son, who understood how to profit from stocks. Despite the temptation to price the shares higher than the initial range, Son opted for a conservative approach, ensuring a healthy debut. This strategic decision paid off handsomely, with SoftBank’s stake gaining an astounding $12 billion in value in a single day which is a pure example on how to profit from stocks and how to read the future trend of AI. 

Furthermore, Arm’s IPO is the largest in the United States since Rivian Automotive Inc.’s offering in 2021, and it signifies a potential catalyst for other tech startups waiting in the wings to go public. Companies like Instacart Inc. and Klaviyo are poised to follow suit, breathing life into a stagnant IPO market.

A Long Bet on Arm

Masayoshi Son’s approach to the Arm IPO is a testament to his unwavering confidence in the company’s future prospects. Arm’s chips are omnipresent in smartphones worldwide, and its position in the burgeoning artificial intelligence and generative AI markets adds another layer of promise. This move also reflects SoftBank’s commitment to Arm, a company it acquired in 2016 for $32 billion, despite a failed attempt to sell it to Nvidia for $40 billion in 2020.

Arm’s decision to pivot to an IPO was a well-calculated move, even though its original target of raising $8 billion to $10 billion was adjusted due to SoftBank’s decision to buy a significant stake held by its Vision Fund. This shift in strategy ultimately landed Arm in an enviable position.

Challenges and Future Outlook

While Arm’s past success in smartphone chip technology is unquestionable, it faces challenges in expanding into new growth areas where competition is fierce. Alternatives to Arm’s chips exist, and other companies have established themselves in these markets. Consequently, some analysts remain cautious about Arm’s ability to justify its IPO valuation.

Furthermore, the broader chip industry is grappling with a sales slump and inventory glut. Arm reported a slight revenue decline for the fiscal year ending in March 2023. However, the company remains confident in its growth potential, especially in light of its increased focus on AI-related technologies.

The IPO’s Broader Impact

Beyond Arm’s individual triumph, its IPO signals a shift in the investment landscape. For Barclays Plc’s Kristin Roth DeClark, the global head of technology investment banking, the Arm IPO showcases a renewed emphasis on fundamental business metrics. In contrast to the frenzy that once surrounded IPOs, investors are now more discerning, demanding a deeper understanding of a company’s fundamentals before committing their capital.

Roth DeClark believes this shift is an exciting development for investment bankers. It signifies a return to the core principles of investment and a departure from speculative buying. This change in investor sentiment, combined with Arm’s success, sets the stage for a potentially vibrant IPO market in the coming months.

Conclusion

Arm Holdings Plc IPO has ignited market enthusiasm, serving as a beacon of hope for tech startups and investors alike. This remarkable debut, backed by SoftBank’s strategic decisions and Masayoshi Son’s unwavering belief in Arm’s potential, underscores the importance of careful planning in the IPO process. While Arm faces challenges in the competitive tech landscape, its IPO has revitalized the market, heralding a new era of prudent investment decisions and fundamental analysis.

As the IPO market gains momentum, investors and traders should keep a watchful eye on the exciting developments ahead. The success of Arm’s IPO is not just a testament to its prowess but also a sign that banking and investment are becoming more calculated, more strategic, and, indeed, more fun.

The post Banking reimagined: Arm’s IPO ignites market enthusiasm appeared first on Digital Journal.

With its widespread usage, WordPress has solidified its position as the dominant blogging platform on the internet, driving more than 30% of all websites. WordPress empowers you to effortlessly craft an elegant, professional-grade blog at no cost, all without the requirement of any coding expertise. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to start with WordPress from scratch.

The Blog Starter is a specialized guide designed specifically for newcomers. It will guide you through every step, incorporating ample visual aids such as pictures and videos to ensure complete clarity. Whether you want to start a blog for your business, as a creative outlet, or just for fun, WordPress makes it straightforward to get your blog up and running quickly. The strength of WordPress lies in its simplicity for the user, along with the powerful features available under the hood.

To initiate your journey with WordPress, begin by registering for web hosting and installing the platform. A hassle-free option is to opt for Bluehost, renowned as one of the largest and most reliable web hosting providers. Their low-cost shared hosting plans include 1-click WordPress installation. Select your domain name, sign up for a project, and within minutes, you can install WordPress and start building your blog. Bluehost also provides 24/7 customer support in case you need any help.

After establishing your web hosting account, access your WordPress admin dashboard to customize your site. You can choose a theme to control the design and layout. A multitude of both free and premium WordPress articles are at your disposal, with many featuring intuitive drag-and-drop page builders for effortless customization. Pick a theme that reflects the look and feel you want for your blog.

Next, you can start creating your blog content. WordPress makes it easy to write posts and pages using the familiar Word-like editor. You can format your text, incorporate images and videos, and include links. As the owner, you’ll also have the option to publish or unpublish your content. Once published, your posts will be visible on your live site.

A crucial part of managing your blog is settings and plugins. Under Settings, you can update critical details like your blog title, tagline, URL, etc. Plugins enable you to enhance the capabilities of WordPress by seamlessly integrating these mini-applications directly into your dashboard. There are plugins for everything from SEO to security to social sharing.

Finally, it’s time to publicize your blog and start attracting readers! Be sure to promote your posts on social media. To foster engagement, you can even display your latest tweets and Facebook posts on your WordPress site. Consider contributing guest posts to other blogs within your niche to broaden your audience reach.

The great thing about WordPress is that it can grow with you over time. As your blog becomes more established, you can upgrade to premium themes, create an email newsletter, or run ads for monetization. The possibilities are endless.

WordPress offers a user-friendly platform for starting a blog quickly and easily. Get your domain and hosting, install WordPress with one 1-click, choose a theme, write posts, customize settings and plugins, and promote your content. Within an hour or two, you can have a professional WordPress blog ready for the world. Give it a try and see where your blogging journey takes you!

The post No coding needed: build a beautiful blog with WordPress in minutes appeared first on Digital Journal.

When we talk about revolutionizing the recruitment industry, Pocketbook Agency is a name that can’t be ignored. Co-founded by Brittany Dolin and Nicole Dayan, who themselves were once personal and executive assistants, this agency has transformed the staffing game with its novel approach: the “Smarter Staffing Technique.” However, what exactly does Pocketbook Agency look for in its candidates, and what can aspiring assistants do to stand out? Let’s dive in.

A Brief Overview of Pocketbook Agency

Pocketbook Agency has carved out a niche in the crowded recruiting landscape, focusing on a tailored, human-centric approach. With their expertise in placing executive and personal assistants, estate managers, chiefs of staff, chefs, and other similar positions under the administrative umbrella across both corporate and domestic roles, they’ve made an impact across industries from entertainment to finance, and everything in between. Client satisfaction is their hallmark, with 99% of their new business coming from referrals.

Pocketbook’s Unique Approach: Smarter Staffing Technique

If there’s a singular element that sets Pocketbook apart, it’s their Smarter Staffing Technique. Unlike large, impersonal recruiting agencies, Pocketbook values individualized matchmaking for employers and job seekers. This unique method has been honed over time, taking feedback from both clients and candidates into account to ensure optimal matches.

The Skillset: What Pocketbook Looks For in Administrative Talent

Educational Background

Many successful executive assistant candidates often hold degrees in business administration, finance, marketing, or similar fields. These educational paths equip them with the required skills to manage clerical and organizational tasks effectively, aligning perfectly with the criteria Pocketbook seeks. On the other hand, personal assistant candidates’ experience in their specific role is oftentimes more valuable than a college degree.

Experience Matters

A wealth of experience in administrative roles is non-negotiable for Pocketbook. Past responsibilities like managing large events, overseeing multiple calendars, extensive travel planning (oftentimes working with private airplanes and multiple home locations), and effective communication build a robust skill set and create seamless working relationships within an organization. The requirements for every open position are different, and Pocketbook hones in on the skills and experience needed for successful placement based on the employer’s needs, creating a curated candidate pool sourced specifically for each role.

The Soft Skills

In all administrative roles, soft skills are incredibly important since candidates work so closely with their employer, oftentimes in their personal space and lives. Pocketbook identifies candidates with high emotional intelligence—those who can “read the room” and adapt, thus contributing to a more harmonious work environment.

Technical Proficiency

As we navigate the digital age, Pocketbook emphasizes tech-savvy candidates. A strong command over Microsoft Office and familiarity with CRM systems and other industry-standard software tools are not just additional skills, but necessities.

Adaptability and Integrity

Roles in administration require juggling various tasks. Pocketbook appreciates candidates who not only adapt but show an unwavering sense of trust and integrity—qualities that form the bedrock of long-term employer-staff relationships.

Networking and Professional Development

Networking is invaluable in any job search, and Pocketbook values candidates who take this seriously. Being an active participant in industry events, professional organizations, and online platforms like LinkedIn adds weight to a candidate’s profile.

The Road Ahead

Pocketbook has already gained traction in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Austin, and more locations across the United States in their nine years of business. As they continue to grow, their focus remains constant—client and candidate satisfaction.

If you are an employer looking to hire for an administrative role in either the corporate or domestic setting, Pocketbook can find your perfect match when it comes to new hires. If you’re an executive assistant, personal assistant, Chief of Staff, Estate Manager, Chef, or other other administrative candidate eager to ascend your career ladder or an employer in search of exemplary administrative talent, Pocketbook Agency, with its well-curated approach, could be your passport to professional success.
For more information, feel free to check out Pocketbook Agency’s website, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

The post The secret sauce: unveiling Pocketbook Agency’s winning criteria for top administrative talent appeared first on Digital Journal.

These events are aimed at both individuals and businesses and are designed to promote best cybersecurity practices.

Such practices include using strong passwords and a password manager. Here, strong passwords are critical to protecting data. In addition, technology users should be encouraged to turn on multifactor authentication.

Perez-Etchegoyen focuses on the importance of companies reassessing their preparedness for a cyberattack. Here he states: “This year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month serves as a timely opportunity for companies to reassess their cybersecurity practices. The significance of cybersecurity has grown even more pronounced in the face of ransomware and supply chain attacks that have affected organizations of all sizes and sectors. Just considering the number of cyberattacks, research indicates a 38 percent increase from 2021 to 2022.”

Not only do businesses need the right technologies they need to be able to harness these at the right time. Perez-Etchegoyen says: “The ability to ensure business continuity and safeguard brand reputation now hinges on an organization’s capacity to enhance the availability of business operations, of which a critical part are its business applications, while also embracing innovation and integrating security and compliance into their operations.”

It is also necessary to target the most important areas of the business. In terms of key areas, Perez-Etchegoyen considers: “Special emphasis must be placed on safeguarding critical web applications since cybercriminals continually identify and exploit vulnerabilities in this area. Such vulnerabilities not only risk data exposure and theft but can also result in complete system downtime until necessary updates are deployed. This system downtime, when it comes to business critical applications, equates to business disruption, potentially resulting in millions of dollars in losses.”

Considering the focal points for the 2023 cybersecurity event, Perez-Etchegoyen draws on: “With the theme “it’s easy to stay safe online” in mind, enterprises must evaluate all elements within their IT landscape to detect any potential cyber threats. This includes identifying unpatched systems, addressing permissive access controls, securing integrations, and rectifying any misconfigurations.”

Returning to the theme of timeliness the expert empathises: “Prompt action is vital to shield mission-critical applications and the overall business from sophisticated cybercriminals. Organizations should also incorporate a robust business application security program into their cybersecurity strategy, ensuring complete visibility into applications for high-priority patching, vulnerability assessments, and security protection.”

The post Timeliness is the key to an effective corporate cybersecurity strategy appeared first on Digital Journal.

Without an agreement, funding for much of the federal government will expire at midnight on Saturday, threatening disruptions to everything from air travel to some benefit payments, and -– if the shutdown endures –- dealing a further blow to the precarious US economy.

The stand-off has been triggered by a small group of hardline Republicans who have pushed back against short-term funding deals, with Congress in deadlock over calls for deep spending cuts.

Some federal employees have been informed of preparations for a lapse, according to a notice seen by AFP.

A note to staff at the Department of Health and Human Services outlined how it would see “reduced staffing across nearly every division for the duration of the lapse” although many key programs will continue.

The department also updated its contingency plans, adding that “pre-notified employees would be temporarily furloughed,” meaning they are not allowed to work. They would receive retroactive pay after the lapse ends, the note said.

Staff at other agencies were understood to have received similar notices.

In a shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed without pay, and members of the military and other employees who are deemed to be essential would continue working without a paycheck.

Certain benefits like Social Security checks would not be hit, but workers who go unpaid could eventually stop showing up, impacting sectors like air travel.

– ‘Dangerous’ –

Apart from the possible lapse in funding, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) faces the added headache of a Saturday deadline for reauthorization.

It remains unclear if lawmakers will pass an FAA reauthorization law separately from a spending package.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a press conference on Wednesday that “there is no good time for a government shutdown,” but adding that “this is a particularly bad time.”

“The consequences would be disruptive and dangerous,” he said.

In Washington, a group of young climate activists of the youth-led Sunrise Movement entered Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office to demand that a shutdown be avoided.

And the White House warned in a statement that a lapse would leave the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund underfunded, “delaying nearly 2,000 long-term recovery projects” across the country.

– ‘Avoidable risk’ –

With just days left to pass legislation that would keep the government running, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said Thursday that his chamber is “pursuing bipartisanship.”

He accused House Speaker McCarthy of choosing to “elevate the whims and desires of a handful of hard-right extremists,” with “nothing to show for it.”

Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader, said shutting down the government is an “actively harmful proposition.”

In a full shutdown, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union estimates almost 1.8 million federal workers would go unpaid for the duration.

A spokeswoman for the International Monetary Fund added in a briefing on Thursday: “We do see a shutdown as an avoidable risk for the US economy.”

“We encourage the parties to come together to reach consensus on ways to fund the US government,” she said.

The post US government readies for imminent shutdown appeared first on Digital Journal.

Epic is laying off about 16 percent of its employees, roughly 830 workers, according to a copy of an email sent to staff by chief executive Tim Sweeney.

“For a while now, we’ve been spending way more money than we earn, investing in the next evolution of Epic and growing Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators,” Sweeney told employees.

“I had long been optimistic that we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic.”

Fortnite growth has reignited, but driven by creator content that involves significant revenue sharing by the company, according to Sweeney.

“Success with the creator ecosystem is a great achievement, but it means a major structural change to our economics,” said Sweeney, who founded the company in the 1990s.

According to the chief executive, layoffs are the only way for the company to stabilize its finances and may result in some development delays.

“Some of our products and initiatives will land on schedule, and some may not ship when planned because they are under-resourced for the time being,” Sweeney said.

Epic is laying off about 16 percent of its employees, roughly 830 workers, citing struggling revenue – Copyright AFP Ina FASSBENDER

While Epic has been taking steps to reduce legal expenses, it is “continuing the fight against Apple and Google distribution monopolies and taxes,” he told workers.

Epic has been fighting Apple and Google in US courts over rules and fees at their respective app stores, where users download digital content like Fortnite for mobile devices.

US-based Epic is also selling off Bandcamp, the online music shop and community which it acquired early last year, and spinning off the ad business of another unit devoted to technology for keeping children safe online, the email explained.

The post Fortnite maker Epic Games tightens belt with layoffs appeared first on Digital Journal.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and subsequent move to slash crucial gas exports, triggered an energy crisis and sent consumer prices surging in Europe, with Germany particularly hard hit. 

But inflation came in at 4.5 percent year-on-year this month, down from 6.1 percent in August, according to preliminary data from national statistics agency Destatis, with sharply lower energy costs contributing.

The last time inflation was lower was in February, 2022, the month Russia sent its forces into Ukraine, it said. 

“The abrupt drop in inflation is an important signal for the success of the fight against inflation,” said Fritzi Koehler-Geib, chief economist at public lender KfW.

“This can help to continually weaken price increases in the coming months as consumers and companies adjust their inflation expectations downward under the impression of the positive news.”

The news will come as a relief to the European Central Bank, which has hiked interest rates aggressively to fight inflation, and will bolster expectations of a pause at its next meeting in October. 

It is also a boost for policymakers in Europe’s industrial powerhouse as they battle myriad problems. 

There is weakness in the key manufacturing sector and households are feeling the pain of the ECB rate hikes.

Problems in the global economy, and in particular a slow recovery from the pandemic in Germany’s top trading partner China, are also weighing on the export giant.

– Gloomy outlook –

An updated joint forecast from leading economic institutes released Thursday highlighted the challenges — they now predict the German economy will shrink by 0.6 percent across the whole of 2023, sharply lower than earlier predictions. 

The economy is struggling to get back on its feet after falling into recession around the turn of the year, and stagnating in the second quarter.

There were positive signs at the start of the year that Germany may have weathered the energy crisis better than expected, and could avoid a sharp downturn this year. 

But a string of gloomy signals in recent weeks — from lacklustre exports to poor business confidence  — suggest the outlook is worsening. 

The IMF has predicted that Germany will be the only major advanced economy to shrink this year, while the European Commission earlier this month said it expects the German economy to contract more sharply than previously forecast. 

On the latest inflation reading, economists said the sharp fall was also driven by some one-off factors which distorted the comparison.  

These included the end of a popular discount travel card system in Germany in September 2022, which pushed up prices then. 

Still, ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the data has “made the call for a pause at the European Central Bank’s October meeting even stronger,” even if eurozone inflation remains well above the ECB’s two-percent target.

“Confidence continues to weaken and inflation has come down, even though it is still nowhere near levels that would bring relief or comfort to the central bank,” he said. 

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Generative AI’s lifeblood is a book-sized semiconductor known as the graphics processing unit (GPU) — built by one company, Nvidia.

Nvidia’s CEO and founder Jensen Huang made a wild bet years ago that the world would soon clamor for a powerful chip usually used for making video games, but that could build AI as well.

No company working with the generative AI models that fuel today’s frenzy can get off the ground without Nvidia’s singular product: the latest model is the H100 and its accompanying software.

Nvidia’s CEO and founder Jensen Huang made a wild bet years ago that the world would soon clamor for a powerful chip usually used for making video games, but that could build AI as well – Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

That painful reality is one that Amazon, Intel, AMD and others are scrambling to fix with their own alternatives, but those attempts could take years.

– ‘Not a lot of GPUs’ –

And with the biggest tech companies throwing all their financial might into generative AI, the smaller fish must go on the hunt to secure Nvidia’s holy grail.

“Around the world, it is becoming very hard to get thousands of GPUs because all these big companies are putting in billions of dollars, stockpiling GPUs,” said Fangbo Tao, co-founder of Mindverse.AI, a Singapore-based startup.

“There’s not a lot of GPUs around,” he said.

Tao spoke to AFP at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, where AI startups jostled to make their pitches to Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists (VC).

Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang made a wild bet years ago that the world would soon clamor for a powerful chip usually used for making video games, but that could build AI as well. — © AFP

ChatGPT took the world by storm just as Silicon Valley was caught in a nasty hangover from the pandemic when investors threw money at startups, convinced that life had gone irreversibly online.

That turned out to be far-fetched, and the US tech scene entered a downturn with rounds of layoffs and VC money dried up.

Thanks to AI, some of the old mojo is back, and anyone with those two letters on their resume will likely see a red carpet rolled out on the legendary Sand Hill Road, home to Silicon Valley’s most storied investors.

But as the startups walk away with their VC cash, the money in their pockets will be quickly forked out to Nvidia for GPUs either directly or through providers to bring their AI dreams to execution.

“We call on a lot of the big cloud providers (Microsoft, AWS and Google) ), and they all tell us even they are having trouble getting supplies,” said Laurent Daudet, CEO of AI startup LightOn.

The problem is most acute for companies involved in training generative AI models, which requires that power hungry GPUs work at peak capacity to process troves of data ingested from the internet.

The computing needs are so massive that only a few companies can stump up the cash to build one of these state-of-the-art large language models.

– ‘Sucking the oxygen’ –

The ten billion dollars investment by Microsoft into OpenAI is widely understood to be paid out as credits to access purpose-built data centers humming with Nvidia GPUs.

Google has built its own models and now Amazon on Monday said it was pumping four billion dollars into Anthropic AI, another company that trains AI.

Training on that mountain of data “is sucking out almost all the oxygen  from the GPU market right now,” said Said Ouissal, CEO of Zededa, a company that works on making AI less power hungry.

“You’re looking at mid-next year, maybe late next year before you’re actually going to get delivery on new orders. The shortage doesn’t seem to be letting up,” added Wes Cummins, CEO Applied Digital, a company that supplies AI infrastructure.

Companies on the AI frontlines also point out that Nvidia’s primordial role makes it the de-facto kingmaker on where the technology is going.

The market is “almost entirely driven by the big players — Googles, Amazons, Metas” that have the “enormous amounts of data and enormous amounts of capital,” former Nvidia engineer Jacopo Pantaleoni told The Information.

“This was not the world I wanted to help build,” he said.

Some veterans of Silicon Valley said that the frenzied days of Nvidia GPUs will not last forever and that other options will inevitably emerge.

Or the cost of entry will prove too high, even for the giants, bringing the current boom down to earth.

The post AI chip crunch: startups vie for Nvidia’s vital component appeared first on Digital Journal.

Unity, a US company whose software is used to create and run thousands of games including smash hits like “Pokemon GO” and “Genshin Impact”, announced on September 12 new fees for developers.

The firm was going to charge 20 cents every time a Unity-backed game was installed on any device, a move that analysts warned could collapse studios and nix new releases.

Ten days later, after a spirited and often vulgarity-laden fightback from studios and developers, Unity rowed back some of the changes.

But for many developers, the damage may be irreparable.

“If I’m forced to accept the current conditions, I will leave,” Alain Puget, director of the French studio Alkemi, told AFP.

Unity claims that its technology underpins 70 percent of the top 1,000 mobile games, and that people download apps made with its software four billion times a month.

Levying even a tiny fee would reap it big rewards.

But there are plenty of alternative “engines”, as the software is known.

“Game makers have already begun to consider switching engines,” said Rhys Elliott, market analyst at the Newzoo consultancy.

– ‘Disconnected from reality’ –

It was all very different back in 2005, when Unity launched with promises of democratising game development.

Its software platform was cheap and easy to use, and quickly became a favourite for independent and smaller developers.

The main innovation was that designers could build on elements from other games, such as the lighting of a background or the movements of characters.

Before Unity and its competitors emerged, each game was custom made, with graphics and everything else built from the ground up.

After a stellar rise, the firm went public in 2020.

For many industry watchers, the stock market flotation was the start of the fall.

The firm, which projects revenues of $2 billion this year, has instituted several waves of layoffs and alienated users by tweaking the software and pricing.

Then came the September 12 bombshell.

“The first proposal they made was completely disconnected from reality,” said Puget of Alkemi.

Hundreds of developers took to social media to slam a proposal they said would kill studios relying on free-to-download games and any smaller outfits that happened to develop a hit game.

“There is no way Unity talked to a single developer before launching this,” developer and consultant Rami Ismail posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The firm returned with an apology — “we heard your concerns”, “you are what makes Unity great” — and a new offer to limit the levy to the most successful games.

Puget believes the firm made a “totally unreasonable” initial proposal so that their later offer, which will still give them a huge windfall, seems more palatable.

– ‘Stop it’ –

The vitriol from developers suggests Unity has a long way to go before it is accepted back into the fold.

Shortly after the initial announcement, an account sprang up on X to collate the responses under the handle “fucked by Unity”, gaining more than 15,000 followers in a few days.

While some developers issued heartfelt letters, others resorted to images of raised middle fingers in front of the Unity logo, or short messages with obscenities of discontent.

“Stop it. WTF?” was the stark response from Innersloth, whose game “Among Us”, made with Unity software, has an estimated 500 million players.

Puget said he was unsure if there was a way back for Unity, saying that “like everyone else” he would look at alternatives.

“It makes me sad to think that I’ve invested 13 years of learning, of research and development, in a solution that I’ll have to throw away,” he said.

The post How a 20-cent fee upended the gaming world appeared first on Digital Journal.