Microsoft AI mandate 🤖, PlayStation pivot 🎮, Android verification 📱, Unity ad SDK 📢
Industry Shifts and AI Strategy 🚀
Microsoft Reportedly Mandates 100% AI Use at King Amid Layoffs
Microsoft has reportedly pushed a 100% daily AI usage mandate at Candy Crush maker King after last year’s layoffs. Despite the policy, insiders say adoption is low beyond ChatGPT and leadership remains skeptical. One manager called the workforce “bloated,” hinting that more cuts could be coming—highlighting tension between AI directives and studio realities.
PlayStation’s Post-Concord Pivot: Fail Faster, Ship Smarter, Build Franchises
After Concord’s stumble, PlayStation is tightening its greenlight and testing processes. CEO Hermen Hulst wants teams to “fail early and cheaply,” shifting focus from the number of live-service launches to diverse experiences, strong communities, and transmedia-ready IP. Leadership also vows to break down silos and share live-ops lessons across studios to scale content more smoothly post-launch. The Last of Us is the template for future franchise ambitions.
Dev Tools: Monetization and Visual Craft 🧰
Bad Ads Hurt Retention: Unity’s Free Tool Puts Devs Back in Control
Unity is making its Ad Quality tool free and cross-mediation to combat the retention hit from poor ads—44% of players would quit and 47% would uninstall. The SDK gives developers transparency and control over ad content, with AI tagging, custom reporting, and a universal creative ID on the roadmap. “We’re putting control back in developers’ hands,” says Unity’s Felix Thé. The move complements Unity’s AI-driven Vector platform, which already delivered a 15% QoQ ad revenue lift.
UEFN Material Graph Hacks for Fast, Stunning Effects
Jackson Clayton (Barnyard Games) shows how to replace heavy Verse scripts and sequencer animations with efficient, shader-driven materials in UEFN. Learn practical material graph techniques that add interactivity and polish while keeping performance high. With actionable examples for all skill levels, this session helps you push visual fidelity without sacrificing speed or iteration time.
Platform Policies and Code Quality 🛡️
Android to Verify All App Developers—Sideloading Still Allowed
Starting next year, Google will verify the identities of all Android app developers—even outside the Play Store—to curb scams and repeat offenders. The company says it’s an ID check, not app content review, and that sideloading plus third‑party stores remain intact. A new Android Developer Console will support off‑Play distribution with student/hobbyist accounts. The move boosts accountability, but raises fresh questions about security versus control.
Uninitialized Heap Reads: Why ASan Misses Them and Valgrind Finds Them
Uninitialized heap reads are tricky—and popular tools won’t always catch them. MSVC’s /RTCu only covers stack vars, and AddressSanitizer misses these bugs entirely. MemorySanitizer works but requires instrumenting your whole codebase and isn’t available in MSVC. The dependable option is Valgrind: slow and Linux-only, but it will reliably flag those “conditional jump depends on uninitialized value” issues.