👋 Happy Lunar New Year! 🧧 Welcome to the Year of the Tiger 🐅 We’re feeling 2022 pick up the pace as we see some massive developments, from East to West. This week we have TikTok’s parent company moving into social platforms; Tencent showing a foray into the pursuit of the Metaverse; Stripe and Spotify’s partnership; and yet another big video game M&A.
Analytics, Digital, Design In Action
Roaring Start of the Year of the Tiger
Lunar New Year is the time of year when all brands are buoyant on traditional Chinese elements for the affluent Chinese diaspora.
Each year, we share our little fascination with the various brands' lunar new year capsule collection - Always trying but never getting it perfectly right😉, and this year, there is no exception. Here are my favorite ones and please check out our Twitter post on this topic.
We wish you prosperity, good health, and happiness in the new year!
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🧧 Happy Lunar New Year! 🧧 🐅 It is the time of year when all brands are buoyant on traditional Chinese elements for the affluent Chinese diaspora.<a href="
31, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
ByteDance’s Party Island
ByteDance began testing a new app called Paiduidao, which translates to Party Island. The app currently has restricted access, meaning only users with invitation codes get a sneak peek. Paiduidao (aka. Party Island) is an online virtual community, allowing users to hang out with friends, chat, interact and participate in virtual activities.
ByteDance has long been known for its short video streaming apps, Douyin and Tiktok. While Party Island sounds suspiciously like a Metaverse play (which is quite in vogue), a Douyin representative said it “has nothing to do with the metaverse.” Nonetheless, it’s interesting to see ByteDance leverage its dominant short video platforms and parlay the learnings (and healthy profits) into a new product.
Tencent Does Something Unreal
Tencent Holdings has quietly embedded video game engine Unreal Engine into its increasingly obsolete messaging platform QQ, according to an updated version of the app, and analysts say the move forms part of the social media and gaming giant’s foray into the metaverse.
The metaverse is gaining popularity in China. Although the country has yet to roll out a nationwide strategy in relation to the concept, as South Korea has, some major city authorities have asked companies to explore the idea. For example, Shanghai’s next five-year plan lists the metaverse as one of four frontiers for exploration.
However, a number of metaverse-related trademark applications have been denied registration by the National Intellectual Property Administration.
In any case, Tencent X Unreal could signal a big shift for both companies, with the former potentially expanding its vast gaming empire, while the latter could ladder this into further growth into the Chinese market.
Better Podcaster Payments by Spotify Ft. Stripe
Spotify has partnered with Stripe to help podcasters manage and grow their recurring revenue and accelerate the rollout of its Podcast Subscriptions platform.
“Spotify Podcast Subscriptions make it easy for creators to establish and manage an important new revenue stream and for listeners to seamlessly subscribe to content that they enjoy,” said Spotify Global Head of Talk Verticals Michael Mignano in the release. “Stripe shared our passion for this feature; their technology and ability to collaborate at speed helped enable the launch of Podcast Subscriptions in 2021, connecting creators and listeners across the world.”
The payment infrastructure for Spotify’s Podcast Subscriptions was developed by Stripe and supports dozens of currencies for thousands of creators in more than 30 countries, according to the release. With Stripe, Spotify creators can accept payments from fans anywhere in the world using their preferred currency.
This represents a massive opportunity for both as Stripe’s own analysis shows that creators on just 50 Stripe-powered platforms have earned nearly $10B in revenue, as the popularity of long-form storytelling has skyrocketed.
Bungie Jump and Wordle Hurdle
Sony is buying Bungie, the developer of Destiny and the original creator of Halo, for $3.6B. The acquisition arrives shortly after Microsoft’s announcement that it intends to acquire Activision Blizzard.
Bungie is telling the audience flatly that its future games will not become PlayStation exclusives.
As we’ve written before, video game assets are front and center in the battle for content and even the so-called Metaverse. We’ve seen a rush from big tech giants and, even now, Newspaper companies. New York Times acquires the breakout game, Wordle for an undisclosed price in the “low seven figures.” The New York Times Company says Wordle will be free to play for new and existing players for the time being. The company also says no changes will be made to its gameplay as it moves to The New York Times.
Connect the Greatest Minds Today for Tomorrow
[First Batch of Experts Will be Announced in Two Weeks] We appreciate your continuous support in the Expert Circle by sending community nominations and self-nominations. A round of community interviews has been scheduled for the next two weeks. 🙏 Thank you and please keep sending nominations! Let us know who we should connect with.
We’re looking for people who can help us build the knowledge network and make a greater impact. If you’re interested in contributing or know someone who’s a good fit, check this out!
Please spread the word!
We are sending a weekly digest every Tuesday. If you like what we write, please consider sharing it with your network, that would help us tremendously!