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Tech startup VLGE, led by founder Evelyn Mora, has launched a real-time spatial creation tool that enables brands to instantly build and deploy interactive e-commerce environments on Roblox without programming knowledge or expensive agency fees.

Democratizing Virtual Real Estate for Brands

Marking the platform’s first large-scale activation, VLGE allows users to build immersive digital spaces directly inside web browsers and publish them to Roblox in real time. Recognizing the massive commercial opportunities in gaming, Mora designed the platform to streamline virtual world generation while ensuring broader engine compatibility. VLGE already supports Unreal Engine and is currently developing support for Meta Horizon Worlds.

Although platforms like Roblox have emerged as critical channels for reaching younger audiences, entering these digital landscapes has traditionally posed huge operational hurdles. “This is significant because Roblox has become fashion’s most powerful youth frontier, yet until now, world-building there has been costly, technical, and complex,” Mora stated. “We make it instant, affordable, scalable, and interoperable, bridging the gap between e-commerce, gaming, and cultural creation.”

Bypassing High Costs and Long Technical Delays

Building a custom experience on Roblox through specialized development agencies currently costs brands between $10,000 and $100,000, alongside timelines that stretch over several months. VLGE removes these friction points completely, allowing creators to launch fully interactive environments instantly without writing code or hiring technical teams.

Building Infrastructure for Gamified Commerce

VLGE operates on a structured multi-tiered pricing model. Access options include a Freemium tier, followed by three specialized paid tiers designed for independent creators, small businesses, and enterprise clients.

Looking beyond virtual builds, VLGE plans to launch a dedicated online marketplace designed to redefine digital retail. The e-tail storefront will sell physical goods from emerging designers alongside compatible 3D assets that users can export directly into Roblox environments. This dual-product strategy highlights how retail brands are turning toward immersive gaming worlds to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers.

“This moment isn’t just about fashion; it’s about the infrastructure that will power the next generation of commerce for the new generation,” Mora emphasized.

Netflix subscribers worldwide can now play video games directly on their smart TVs starting this week, utilizing their personal smartphones as handheld controllers to expand the streaming platform’s ecosystem beyond streaming video.

The feature builds upon efforts that began in early 2023 when rumors first surfaced regarding Netflix’s intention to bring its mobile titles to television screens. Later that year, the platform released a dedicated game controller app for iOS devices, laying the technical foundation for this week’s official launch.

How to Access Games on Your Television

Accessing the new feature requires minimal setup. Users simply navigate to the dedicated Games tab within the Netflix TV application, select a title, and sync their smartphone to act as the primary game controller.

Four years after its initial venture into mobile gaming, Netflix is pivoting toward a broader approach. This expansion onto television screens signals an aggressive push to challenge established video game publishers by captivating users directly in their living rooms.

New Multiplayer Party Titles Available at Launch

In conjunction with the rollout, Netflix revealed a fresh catalog of group-oriented party games designed specifically for social play:

• Boggle Party: Allows up to eight players to race against the clock to discover hidden words within a randomized letter grid.
• LEGO Party!: A competitive game mode where four players face off in various minigames and skill challenges.
• Party Crashers: Fool Your Friends: A social deduction game where one player operates without knowing the core context, forcing others to evaluate clues and expose the outsider.
• Pictionary: Game Night: A digital adaptation of the classic drawing game where participants guess sketches before time runs out.
• Tetris Time Warp: A multiplayer adaptation of the iconic puzzle game where players compete head-to-head for high scores.

Netflix’s Broader Gaming Strategy

Focusing on group-oriented titles serves a clear operational goal: increasing user participation and keeping subscribers engaged with the platform even when they are not consuming TV shows or films.

These five initial offerings align with Netflix’s recently disclosed strategy insight, which categorizes future development into four specific game pillars, including party-style experiences.

Availability and Global Rollout

The TV gaming feature is currently live on select smart TV models across specific international markets, with plans for a broader global rollout in the coming months.

Epic Games reported a massive 60% drop in user abandonment when installing its third-party app store on iPhones in the European Union following Apple’s streamlined workflow rollout in iOS 18.6.

Simplifying the iOS Installation Flow

Under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple began permitting alternative app marketplaces on iOS earlier this year. However, initial implementation forced users through an arduous multi-step setup dominated by “scare screens”—intrusive warnings highlighting potential security risks of downloading software outside the official App Store.

App developers argued that these scare tactics deliberately deterred consumers from completing installations. Regulators agreed: the European Union hit Apple with a $568 million fine for failing to comply with DMA standards.

In July, Apple released a new process for installing third-party app marketplaces in iOS 18.6. The update consolidated warnings into a single screen informing users that features like App Store subscription management would not apply, and that the alternative store developer directly manages user data.

By the Numbers: Dramatic Conversion Improvement

Prior to the iOS 18.6 update, 65% of iPhone users attempting to install the Epic Games Store gave up midway through the process. Following the update, that friction figure plummeted to 25%. Epic Games highlighted that this revised conversion rate aligns closely with historical installation behavior observed among Windows and macOS users.

Lingering Friction and Monopolistic Pushback

While acknowledging the gains, Epic Games maintains that Apple’s ecosystem remains hostile toward third-party market competitors. The gaming giant continues to criticize Apple’s Core Technology Fee, complex notarization protocols, and restrictive app distribution conditions.

The Desktop vs. Mobile Security Debate

Epic Games reiterated arguments established in its landmark lawsuit against Apple, pointing out that Mac desktop users face fewer barriers when installing outside software. During those legal proceedings, Apple SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi countered that relaxing iOS security rules to match macOS would leave the mobile platform overrun by malware.

Epic Games Targets Google’s Android Installation Flow

Apple is not Epic’s sole legal target. Epic Games is concurrently challenging Google over similar friction in Android’s sideloading experience. Epic claims Google misleads consumers by displaying multi-step security alerts implying third-party app stores are inherently malicious.

A U.S. federal court previously ruled that Google must open Android to third-party app stores. In July, Google lost its appeal against the antitrust decision, clearing the way for further regulatory changes across the Android ecosystem.

TechCrunch has officially launched group pass bundles for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 this week, offering team discounts of up to 20% for investors and 15% for founders to lower attendance costs for the premier technology event.

Exclusive Pass Discounts for Founding and Investment Teams

The newly released bundle tier allows startup teams and venture capital firms to secure passes at significantly reduced rates when registering together. The tier breakdown includes:

• Founder Bundle Passes: Groups ranging from 4 to 9 founders receive an automatic 15% discount on registration.
• Investor Bundle Passes: Groups of 4 to 9 investors save 20% on passes, an increase from the previous 15% discount structure.

High-Impact Networking and Matchmaking Access

In addition to entry discounts, pass holders unlock tailored networking opportunities designed to connect capital with high-growth startups throughout the event:

• Curated VC Matchmaking: Participate in targeted, one-on-one meetings with investors matched specifically to your startup’s stage, industry, and sector.
• Deal Flow Cafe Access: Gain entry to an exclusive, informal space tailored for direct interaction with venture capitalists actively seeking new investments.
• Early Investor List Access: Access an advance directory of opt-in Disrupt investors open to meeting with participating founders.

Scaling Playbooks and Startup Battlefield 200 Insights

Disrupt 2025 features an extensive programming lineup focused on actionable operational knowledge and live pitch showcases:

• Growth and IPO Playbooks: Learn proven strategies directly from prominent market leaders on fundraising, scaling operations, and establishing sustainable corporate foundations.
• Sector-Focused Stages: Attend specialized track sessions covering high-growth domains, including Artificial Intelligence, Go-To-Market (GTM) execution strategies, and the 2026 corporate scaling playbook.
• Startup Battlefield 200: Watch top-tier early-stage companies pitch live on stage, while gaining insights from seasoned venture capitalists evaluating what makes a viable startup.

Bootstrapped startup Lootlock has launched a prepaid card system designed to prevent children from running up surprise credit card bills that often reach thousands of dollars on micro-transactions and video games.

Deceptive Game Mechanics Target Young Players

The video game industry relies heavily on monetization strategies that lure younger audiences into unlocking fee-based features. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an official advisory warning highlighting how games target children, while the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published similar consumer alerts regarding unauthorized purchases.

“The gaming industry uses clever design, social engineering, and player tracking to encourage kids to spend more money while playing,” said Lootlock founder Pompa. As an active gamer, Pompa has observed a drastic shift toward aggressive micro-transactions over the past decade.

Regulatory actions offer little relief for most households. While the FTC forced Fortnite to pay $126 million in refunds to affected consumers, such outcomes remain rare, leaving parents with few options to recover lost funds.

Replacing Inflexible Parental Controls

Standard device-level parental controls usually block in-app purchases entirely. However, many parents prefer allowing controlled spending without risking entire credit lines.

Pompa developed Lootlock after observing a friend named Joe, a father of three young gamers. Joe handed his children cash allowance, only for them to give it back to cover gaming purchases made on his credit card—a tedious loop requiring constant monitoring.

How Lootlock Manages In-Game Spending

Lootlock solves this by issuing a digital prepaid card through its financial partner, Transcard. Children add the card to their device’s digital wallet, giving parents direct management over available balances.

Parents can schedule recurring allowance deposits—weekly or monthly—and lock specific portions until kids complete designated tasks. Any requested limit increases can be approved instantly by parents via text message.

“We’re giving the parents super granular controls on how their kids can spend and when their kids can spend,” Pompa stated.

Gamifying Chores and Financial Education

Lootlock plans to introduce a feature called “bounty boards” in October. Parents set up interactive chore lists—such as cleaning rooms or caring for pets—and children earn bounties upon completion, unlocking additional funds when specific thresholds are met.

The platform also incorporates financial literacy mechanics. Kids select a digital avatar and earn points by maintaining responsible financial habits, including checking account balances on their Lootlock dashboard. Points unlock virtual equipment like swords and armor for their avatar, which remains active across Lootlock-integrated spaces like Discord servers.

“We’re tying all of the financial concepts into a video game concept,” Pompa explained.

Card balances are restricted exclusively to gaming transactions and cannot be used for general online shopping, eliminating the need for parents to monitor broader web purchases. Currently managed by a seven-person bootstrapped team, Lootlock focuses on teaching children sustainable financial habits within gaming ecosystems.

Gaming giant Electronic Arts is nearing a landmark $50 billion deal to go private under an investor group led by Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, according to a report published Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

The Largest Leveraged Buyout in History

If finalized, the $50 billion acquisition would represent the largest leveraged buyout ever recorded. Under this financial structure, the transaction will be heavily funded through debt financing to take the major publisher off the public market.

Market Response and Stock Surge

Wall Street responded immediately to the acquisition reports. Shares of Electronic Arts jumped 15% on Friday afternoon as investors reacted to the news of the impending buyout deal.

A Powerhouse Portfolio of Gaming Franchises

EA remains one of the video game industry’s premier publishers. The company is best known for its dominant annual sports franchises, including Madden NFL, FIFA, and NBA Live, as well as critically acclaimed original intellectual properties such as The Sims, Battlefield, Need for Speed, and licensed Star Wars titles.

Google announced a major AI-driven redesign for the Google Play Store on Tuesday, introducing personalized navigation tabs, intent-based search, and a real-time gaming assistant powered by Gemini AI to boost engagement across its global user base of over four billion people. As detailed by the company, the platform is transforming into a tailored content ecosystem built around individual user preferences.

The massive update expands on recent structural updates designed to turn the Play Store into a primary media destination, such as dedicated streaming hubs and Collections that categorize apps into activities like shopping, watching, and listening. Speaking in a press briefing, Google Play Games Vice President and General Manager Aurash Mahbod highlighted that the store functions as a vital portal for discovering software, games, books, movies, and TV shows, with the core goal of helping users connect deeper with content that meets their daily needs.

AI-Powered Guided Search and Redesigned Apps Tab

Under the new framework, content discovery moves beyond traditional keyword searches through a feature called Guided Search. This capability allows users to input natural language goals or concepts instead of exact application titles. For instance, entering “find a home” will directly present relevant real estate and housing platforms.

Simultaneously, the revamped Apps tab introduces “curated spaces” focused on seasonal themes and specific user interests, aggregating material from multiple third-party applications. In the United States, these hubs will feature dedicated WNBA coverage. This builds upon prior localized launches in India and Japan, which targeted regional priorities like cricket and comics. Furthermore, users in South Korea will receive a dedicated video space featuring movies, TV shows, and short-form video—a format Google highlights as the most heavily consumed media on smartphones.

Centralized Personalization: The “You” Tab

Designed to serve as a daily dashboard, the new “You” tab centralizes active subscriptions, Play Points rewards, personal usage metrics, and software updates into one interface.

The tab provides tailored recommendations across films, shows, podcasts, e-books, and audiobooks, while adding quick shortcuts to immediately resume recently accessed media content.

Gamers can also manage their updated player profile within the “You” hub. This section consolidates overall stats and achievement tracking across devices, with new options to customize user profiles using generative AI avatars.

New Games Hub and Gemini AI ‘Sidekick’

Google is expanding mobile gaming features following competitive shifts in the mobile ecosystem. The revamped Games tab consolidates stats, achievement tracking, rewards programs, and community elements into a single location. Through Play Games Leagues, players can compete directly against friends for Play Points, starting with an inaugural league centered on Subway Surfers running from October 10 to October 23.

The flagship addition to the gaming ecosystem is the AI-driven Play Games Sidekick, an in-game overlay offering live gameplay assistance powered by Gemini Live.

This tool enables players to receive instant tips and guidance without leaving their active gaming session, building upon foundational AI research unveiled by Google DeepMind in December regarding task-specific AI agents.

“Instead of having to leave the game to seek out tutorials or walkthroughs, we’re leveraging the latest Gemini audio-to-audio model to help understand your gaming context, providing you quick responses and encouragement,” Mahbod stated during the briefing.

The Play Games Sidekick aggregates contextually relevant information directly on screen. Initial platform support focuses on key titles from EA and Netmarble, including Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, FC Mobile, and Solo Leveling: Arise.

Enhanced Game Details and Desktop PC Expansion

Alongside the overlay, Google is updating Game Detail Pages to surface live events, developer logs, and promotional offers. Beginning next month, these pages will integrate interactive community Q&A features to let players ask questions and share strategic advice directly.

Concluding the series of announcements, Google confirmed that Google Play Games on PC has officially exited its beta stage, offering native access to over 200,000 Android titles on Windows desktop environments globally.

Mirror founder Brynn Putnam will officially reveal her new gaming hardware startup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27–29 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, marking her high-profile return to consumer tech.

A Major Pivot to Gaming Hardware

Putnam previously reshaped the interactive workout market with Mirror, the smart fitness system acquired by Lululemon in 2020 for $500 million. Her latest enterprise moves her focus from home fitness to the fast-growing gaming sector, where she plans to introduce a new class of hardware products.

Unveiling at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

The debut will take center stage during San Francisco’s flagship technology gathering. Industry leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs will gather at the Moscone Center from October 27 through October 29 to see Putnam present details of her new venture publicly for the first time.

Discord founder Jason Citron will return to TechCrunch Disrupt in October 2025 as a featured speaker, delivering real-world lessons on startup endurance and strategy twelve years after first competing on the event’s Startup Battlefield stage.

Mastering Strategy Shifts and Scalable Vision

Citron’s evolution from a 2013 Battlefield contestant to the leader of one of today’s most powerful consumer engagement platforms offers a masterclass in founder persistence. His upcoming session will examine the high-stakes decisions, strategic pivots, and calculated product bets that helped transform early startup hurdles into massive global success.

Why Citron’s Playbook Matters for Today’s Founders

Transforming an ambitious idea into an international platform rarely follows a predictable trajectory. As TechCrunch celebrates its 20th anniversary at Disrupt 2025, Citron’s return highlights how founders can weather severe market shifts, reevaluate core strategies, and remain aligned with their ultimate product vision in a rapidly changing tech ecosystem.