Modi on Gaming vs Gambling, Roblox TikTok-Style App, Riot’s Valorant Rankings

Welcome to another Pixel P&L edition. This issue takes 4 minutes to read. If you only have one, here are the 5 most important things:

• Prime Minister Modi defended India's online gambling ban, saying "Gaming is not bad but gambling is."

• Roblox launched a TikTok-style app called "Moments" and boosted creator payouts by 8.5%.

• Roblox hits 111.8M daily users while deploying 400 AI models for game creation.

• Subway Surfers and Brawl Stars launched their first dual-game crossover.

• Riot Games introduces data-driven power rankings for VALORANT esports using AWS analytics. 

Let's get into it.

India Banned Online Gambling Despite Industry Pressure, Modi Says

Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended his government's controversial ban on online gambling, saying it withstood pressure from "powerful lobbies" to protect India's youth.

Speaking to national award-winning teachers on Teacher’s day, Modi distinguished between gaming and gambling while promoting the newly passed Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. The legislation prohibits all online money games while encouraging esports and legitimate gaming.

"Gaming is not bad but gambling is," Modi said, citing cases where addiction led families to financial ruin and suicide. "Big powers never wanted such laws...but our government has the political will."

The Act bars advertisements for online money games and prevents banks from processing related transactions. Modi urged educators to help students understand the difference between productive gaming and harmful gambling.

India's gaming market presents significant employment opportunities, Modi noted, suggesting the country could "dominate" the global sector if developed properly. The prime minister emphasized that even the Olympics now includes gaming competitions, highlighting legitimate career paths.

Roblox Launches TikTok-Style App to Capture Gaming Content

Roblox unveiled "Roblox Moments," a short-form video app, and increased creator payouts at its developers conference Friday, as the gaming platform seeks to capitalize on surging user engagement.

The TikTok-style beta app allows users to capture, edit and share gameplay clips on a unified platform. The move could help Roblox reclaim billions of views its content generates on external sites like YouTube, potentially boosting engagement.

CEO David Baszucki also announced an 8.5% increase in creator earnings when converting Robux currency to cash. The creator community has earned over $1 billion in the past year, with more than 100 games generating over $1 million annually.

Roblox has been diversifying beyond gaming into e-commerce, social networking and advertising. Earlier this year, the company launched new ad formats and partnered with Google to expand its advertising business.

⚡️Quick Bytes

Roblox Hits 111.8M Daily Users, Deploys AI for Game Creation

Roblox's daily active users reached 111.8 million as the platform unveiled 400 AI models to streamline game development. The company's 4D Objects tool generates interactive assets from text prompts, while new voice translation features support multiple languages. Roblox is leveraging AI to help smaller development teams averaging under 10 people build top-performing games more efficiently.

Subway Surfers, Brawl Stars Launch First Dual-Game Crossover

SYBO and Supercell introduced their inaugural crossover event, adding competitive multiplayer to Subway Surfers for the first time in 13 years. The update features Brawl Stars Showdown mode in Subway Surfers, while Brawl Stars gets a Subway Surfers-themed season with 10-player races. Both games offer exclusive rewards and themed content, targeting increased player engagement across their combined user bases.

Riot Games Introduces Data-Driven Rankings for VALORANT Esports

Riot Games launched Global Power Rankings for its VALORANT Champions Tour, using AWS-powered analytics to create objective team measurements. The Elo-based system factors regional strength, recent performance, and international results to provide standardized competitive metrics. The initiative aims to enhance viewer engagement and create systematic frameworks for evaluating team performance, potentially influencing sponsorship valuations and tournament seeding in the growing esports market.

⚔️Side Quest

📺 Watch: Gaming agency Biborg published this comprehensive case study for the newly released Hell is Us, demonstrating effective multi-phase campaign execution across US, UK, and France markets. Their strategic approach spans pre-launch through launch phases, showcasing diverse touchpoints from interactive social formats to premium website placements. 

🎮 Play: STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar delivers everything longtime Harvest Moon fans have been craving. With charming voice acting, brilliant bazaar mechanics, and meaningful quality-of-life improvements, it perfectly balances nostalgic heart with fresh innovation. 

📚 Listen: Aftermath’s Nathan Grayson examines why gaming's "cultural moment" events like Hollow Knight: Silksong are becoming extinct. Grayson and guests explore industry fragmentation, comparing recent phenomena like Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 to understand what creates universal gaming experiences.

💡Did You Know

Nintendo's iconic Game Boy got its name as a playful riff on Sony's Walkman! The Game Boy's name was inspired by Sony's revolutionary portable music player, which had debuted about 10 years earlier in 1979. Just as the Walkman transformed how people consumed music on the go, Nintendo envisioned their handheld device doing the same for gaming.

📜 Quote of the Day

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