storefront Archives

AppWizard

June 19, 2025

Wait! Amazon is giving free games away… is it Prime Day already?!

Amazon is offering free PC games to its Prime members from July 8-11, coinciding with Prime Day. To claim the games, Prime members must log in to Prime Gaming, where they can find codes for various titles, including "Star Wars: Rebellion," "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered," and "Mafia III (Definitive Edition)." These games can be redeemed through GOC, a digital storefront. A 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime is available for new users. Additionally, Prime members can access cloud-based games via Amazon Luna, allowing streaming on various devices. It is important for users to ensure their Prime membership is active before July 8 to access these offers.

AppWizard

June 18, 2025

Epic Games Store Is Removing Controversial Game From Everyone’s Library

Epic Games will remove the game Dark and Darker from all player accounts on November 1, 2025. The game was previously taken off the Epic Games Store in March 2023 due to legal disputes between its developer, Ironmace, and Nexon. Players have been notified via email about the removal, which will make the game unplayable on the Epic Games Store. Players can no longer purchase in-game items like Redstone Shards or Legendary Status upgrades, but previously purchased items can be used until the removal date. Refunds will be issued for the Legendary Status upgrade, but not for Redstone Shards. Players who do not receive refunds by July 1 are advised to contact player support. The future of Dark and Darker is uncertain due to ongoing legal proceedings.

AppWizard

June 18, 2025

Xbox inks hardware agreement with AMD

Microsoft has entered into a hardware agreement with AMD to co-engineer silicon for future Xbox consoles and cloud-based technologies. This strategic multi-year partnership aims to enhance gaming technology, improve graphics innovation, and ensure compatibility with existing Xbox game libraries. The collaboration focuses on creating a versatile gaming platform that allows players to access games across multiple devices without being restricted to a single storefront. Microsoft is also working with the Windows team to position Windows as the leading platform for gaming.

BetaBeacon

June 15, 2025

Solo Leveling: Arise releases on the Epic Games Store for mobile

- Solo Leveling: Arise is now available on the Epic Games Store with an exclusive event for players. - Players who log in via the Epic Games Store can receive an exclusive Epic Store Launch Celebration pack until June 25th. - Netmarble's decision to release Solo Leveling: Arise on the Epic Games Store could have positive implications for the platform.

BetaBeacon

June 13, 2025

iPhone or Android? Here’s how you can get free games every week with Epic Games

- Epic Games Store mobile app offers free games every week - Users need to download the app, sign in or create an account, check the weekly lineup, and claim the free game - Current free games include Loop Hero, Super Space Club, Mr Racer: Premium, The Forest Quartet, and Neighbours Back From Hell - Android users have access to additional games like Bowling Clash and Endling: Extinction is Forever - iOS availability is limited to the EU for now, but may expand in the future.

Tech Optimizer

June 10, 2025

Why Instacart Moved to Postgres & pgvector to Boost Semantic Search

Instacart serves 14 million daily users and manages billions of products, necessitating advanced search capabilities that go beyond keyword matching to understand user intent. The search system must reflect real-time inventory changes, leading to significant workloads on the database. Instacart transitioned from Elasticsearch and FAISS to a hybrid architecture using Postgres and pgvector, improving search performance and reducing write workloads by tenfold. This normalization allowed for better storage of machine learning features and improved flexibility. Moving compute closer to storage with NVMe resulted in a twofold increase in search performance. Instacart's migration to pgvector eliminated data duplication and operational complexity, enhancing search quality and user satisfaction, evidenced by a 6% decrease in searches with zero results.

AppWizard

June 9, 2025

Cool Pixel Watch features keep trickling in from the Wear OS 6 dev code

Recent insights from the Wear OS 6 developer preview and an APK teardown have revealed new features for the upcoming Pixel Watch 4, including an Adaptive Charging tool that stops charging at a predetermined percentage (likely around 80%) and a rebranded Water Lock mode. The Pixel Watch 4 may also automatically lock your phone if it is left behind. The official rollout of Wear OS 6 is expected to begin in late summer. Additionally, the update will introduce a new Material 3 Expressive UI, dynamic color theming, and a third-party watch face storefront. The Pixel Watch 4 may be thicker than its predecessor to accommodate a larger battery, enhancing the battery life with the new adaptive charging feature.

AppWizard

May 23, 2025

Rokky acquires ChinaPlay store

PC distribution platform Rokky has acquired the Chinese storefront ChinaPlay. The financial details of the deal are undisclosed. ChinaPlay connects global developers with the Chinese gaming audience, which consists of approximately one million annual users. Rokky's co-founder and CEO, Vadim Andreev, highlighted the challenges global publishers face in accessing China's gaming market, noting that the acquisition aims to provide a direct route to China's 322 million PC gamers. Denis Glukhov, product lead at ChinaPlay, stated that the acquisition will enhance their presence in the Chinese market and improve connections between global publishers and Chinese gamers. Plans include expanding local forum presence, enhancing the loyalty program, and diversifying the catalog of publishers.

Winsage

May 20, 2025

Microsoft Makes Individual Developer Accounts Free Next Month

Microsoft is removing all onboarding fees for individual developers to publish applications on the Microsoft Store, effective next month. This change allows developers to publish without a credit card, making the platform more accessible. Company accounts will still incur a fee, but individual developers can utilize the built-in developer mode on Windows 10, 11, and Xbox consoles to create unsigned applications. The Microsoft Store will also see improvements in discovery, delivery, and user acquisition processes. While developer mode is popular for running emulation software, it remains limited by the deprecated UWP application platform, affecting Xbox console applications.

AppWizard

May 18, 2025

Steam Game Is Free Before It’s Removed Forever

Anything Nose has announced that its game Mouthole will soon be removed from the Steam storefront. Launched on April 1, 2024, Mouthole is an adventure RPG with a 97 percent approval rating based on 87 reviews. The game will transition to a free model before the developer shuts down operations. The studio's upcoming project, Diacritic, has also been canceled, resulting in the removal of its listing and free demo from the platform. The timeline for Mouthole's removal has not been specified.