After a couple of delays, Cyberpunk 2077 finally got its global debut this week. CD Projekt Red’s open-world project was arguably one of the biggest game launches of 2020, possibly in history. The game was released on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Google Stadia. Cyberpunk 2077 can also be played on the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X through backward compatibility. Cyberpunk 2077 had the biggest launch day in PC gaming history, surpassing the bar set by recently unveiled World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Cyberpunk 2077 was pre-ordered by an astonishing 8 million people, 59 percent of which were for PC. And that’s not counting the purchases made on launch day.
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According to an industry report on mobile trends by App Annie, TikTok became the most downloaded app in 2020 globally. The video-sharing platform has been downloaded the most on iOS and Android devices in 2020. App Annie has predicted that TikTok will break the one billion monthly active users club in 2021. Facebook and WhatsApp Messenger came in second and third, respectively. While breakthrough app Zoom came in fourth and another Facebook-owned app Instagram took the last spot in the top five.
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The Game Awards 2020 saw some big new reveals as and a lot of awards doled out throughout the night. “The Last of Us Part II” won the title of ‘game of the year’, the highest honour on the night. The game also won other accolades, including best direction, narrative, action/adventure game, audio design and performance for Laura Bailey. Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake won best score and sound and RPG. Hades won best action game and indie game, while Among Us won the best multiplayer title of the year. We also got teasers for the next Dragon Age game and an official teaser for Mass Effect.
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Xiaomi overtook Apple as the number three smartphone brand in the third quarter of 2020. According to a report by Counterpoint Research, the Chinese smartphone maker overtook Apple for the first time ever, accounting for 13 percent market share over Apple’s 11 percent. While Apple recorded its best quarter in India and Brazil, the dip in overall market share can be attributed to the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 series.
Big tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook will have to step up their efforts in dealing with illegal content and provide more details about advertising on their platforms under new European Union rules. The big tech firms can face fines of up to six percent of their turnover if they don’t adhere to the new rules. Apart from tackling illegal content, companies will also be required to publish details of online advertisers and reveal the parameters used by their algorithms to suggest and rank information. The document defines very large online platforms as those with more than 45 million users. The draft rule could take a year or more to come into force and will have to consider feedback from the European Parliament and EU nations.
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The India Mobile Congress was held earlier this week, with the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that India is emerging as the most preferred destination for mobile manufacturing. Addressing the event via video call, he said that every village in the country would have high-speed optical fibre data network connectivity in three years. PM Modi also said; “We need to work together to ensure a timely roll-out of 5G to leapfrog into the future and empower millions of Indians.”
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Apple and Google have asked developers to remove code from a company called X-Mode Social from their apps or risk getting them taken down from the respective app stores. X-Mode’s code may be embedded in some apps for tracking and selling users’ location data. X-Mode gives developers code to put into their apps, known as an SDK, which tracks users’ location and then sends that data to X-Mode, which then sells that data. X-Mode then pays developers a certain amount based on the number of users the app has.
