Google and Meta are being raked over the coals in the US
The two titans are facing antitrust suits for the methods used in their digital advertising networks. Google for running an illegal monopoly within its digital ad network, while Facebook is in front of the FTC for antitrust behaviour in its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, as part of its digital ad strategy.
Steam profits off gaming loot crates
It was revealed that game publisher and marketplace Steam made US$82 million from loot crate openings in one month, from a single game.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That be Man, it's been a tough week. If it
is a really a tough week, I don't know we
can say that for the likes of Google and Meta,
but at the very least, both of those tech companies
have been raped over the coals in the US. Tech
commentator Oscar Howell is here with the details this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hey Oscar, Hey Jack, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, great to be chatting with you. Thanks for being here.
So tell us all about Google. Google has been accused
of running an illegal monopoly.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah. So Google has just lost quite a lot of
antitrust case in the United States a federal judgment Virginia,
although it was backed up by a number of judges
across the any country. Rule that had maintained an illegal
monopoly in the online advertising market, and it seems like
Google's strategy was to insulate the entire online advertising process
(00:58):
to squash competition.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Right, Okay, So what's it going to mean now that
they've lost it?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Well, I think the things like the US Justice Department
are kind of weighing up where to push things. They
there's the talk of Google being made to spin off
Google Chrome, it's browser, and then yeah, hopefully kind of
create a bit more space in the market for alternative
advertisers to pop up, which I mean, as we all know,
(01:25):
more competition can mean more competitive alternatives for small people
looking to add, well people looking to advertise.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah. Yeah, it's fascinating when you think about how integrated
all of those Google services are. The things that kind
of make them very convenient at times from a consumer's perspective,
also means that they absolutely dominate the digital ad you know,
digital ad market or much of the digital ad market.
A lot of the data that they can offer advertisers,
you know, far exceeds anything that other advertisers can do.
(01:55):
But obviously another big digital player and the advertising market
is Meta, the owner of Facebook, and Facebook's been in
front of the FTC for anti trust behavior. Tell us
about that.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah enough, similar story. It seems as though in the past,
probably before it was called Meta, it was just no
known as Facebook. Their previous growth strategy was to buy
or bearing and that's a direct quote competitors in the
social media industry, which may have led to them acquiring
platforms people know such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and Yeah,
(02:28):
basically the more real estate they to buy up in
that space, the less opportunities there were the competitives to grow.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, it's funny. I remember when you know they purchased
both of those operations. What's happened Instagram and I remember
at the time everyone was saying, Oh my gosh, they're
paying way too much money for this. They're paying way
too much money. But I think over time, given how
popular Instagram and WhatsApp have become, you know, Facebook strategy,
at least from a market dominance kind of perspective, has
certainly played out. You know, it has proved to be
(02:56):
pretty good. But whether or not it's actually anti trust behavior,
I uppose there's another question. It's also been revealed this
week Askar that Steam has made teams of millions of
dollars in gaming loot crates. For anyone who doesn't know
what a gaming loot crate x is, can you explain
this to us?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, so, luke crate is effectively a form of online
gambling in its purest form. So that may sound a
little bit silly to people who aren't kind of in
the gaming space, but effectively you can buy skins or
aesthetic items for your character in a video game, and
seen as one of the largest publishers in the world
(03:34):
and also the largest online gaming games marketplace. Yeah, so
you basically you want to juge up your character a
little bit, and one of the mechanisms by which you
can do that is you effectively roll in these kind
of roulette style cases where you know you might spend
three or four dollars, you spin the wheel and you
get a certain skin, and obviously some are more desirable
(03:55):
than others, and that's the kind of thing that can
create gambling addictions, especially for young people because especially in
a space like gaming, you know, everything's bright, it's colorful
as part of it, kind of pop cultures like guys,
it's really attractive and seeing like you said, has made
eighty two million dollars in March at the UFD. By
(04:15):
the way, a lot of them just one of their
video games. So yeah, I think it'd be a good
time to take a look at that and see whether
that's creating harmful behavior, whether that's harmful behavior, especially towards
New Zealand young people.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, that's amazing. It's a vast amount of money. So
basically it's almost like a lucky depth bay. So if
you're really into gaming, you can give some money and
it kind of you know, it's like it's like a
roulette or you know, like a pokey or something. Basically,
you give some money and then hope that you get
a skin that you like. But there's no guarantee that
you're going to get there. And people people say, oh,
I didn't get at this time. I just pay a
(04:48):
bit more. I'll just have it more. I'll just have
bit more. It's going to come through sometime soon and
you can see how comparable it is to the more
traditional forms of gambling.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Absolutely, And I think probably the key problem with it
is that because it's such a new frontier, it's nearly
entirely unregulated. Yeah, is on and across the world, right,
and I mean, I think especially as gaming kind of
grows to be I mean, it already is the largest
form of entertainment in the world by the amount of
money it raises every year. But I think it's it's
time that maybe regulators begin to look at how gambling
(05:22):
and gaming can be brought brought to heal.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So, yeah, all very good, Hey, thanks so much for
your time, Oscar and your expertise, that's Tick commentator Oscar
Speaker 1 (05:31):
How For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen
live to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That be Man, it's been a tough week. If it
is a really a tough week, I don't know we
can say that for the likes of Google and Meta,
but at the very least, both of those tech companies
have been raped over the coals in the US. Tech
commentator Oscar Howell is here with the details this morning.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hey Oscar, Hey Jack, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, great to be chatting with you. Thanks for being here.
So tell us all about Google. Google has been accused
of running an illegal monopoly.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah. So Google has just lost quite a lot of
antitrust case in the United States a federal judgment Virginia,
although it was backed up by a number of judges
across the any country. Rule that had maintained an illegal
monopoly in the online advertising market, and it seems like
Google's strategy was to insulate the entire online advertising process
(00:58):
to squash competition.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Right, Okay, So what's it going to mean now that
they've lost it?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Well, I think the things like the US Justice Department
are kind of weighing up where to push things. They
there's the talk of Google being made to spin off
Google Chrome, it's browser, and then yeah, hopefully kind of
create a bit more space in the market for alternative
advertisers to pop up, which I mean, as we all know,
(01:25):
more competition can mean more competitive alternatives for small people
looking to add, well people looking to advertise.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah. Yeah, it's fascinating when you think about how integrated
all of those Google services are. The things that kind
of make them very convenient at times from a consumer's perspective,
also means that they absolutely dominate the digital ad you know,
digital ad market or much of the digital ad market.
A lot of the data that they can offer advertisers,
you know, far exceeds anything that other advertisers can do.
(01:55):
But obviously another big digital player and the advertising market
is Meta, the owner of Facebook, and Facebook's been in
front of the FTC for anti trust behavior. Tell us
about that.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah enough, similar story. It seems as though in the past,
probably before it was called Meta, it was just no
known as Facebook. Their previous growth strategy was to buy
or bearing and that's a direct quote competitors in the
social media industry, which may have led to them acquiring
platforms people know such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and Yeah,
(02:28):
basically the more real estate they to buy up in
that space, the less opportunities there were the competitives to grow.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, it's funny. I remember when you know they purchased
both of those operations. What's happened Instagram and I remember
at the time everyone was saying, Oh my gosh, they're
paying way too much money for this. They're paying way
too much money. But I think over time, given how
popular Instagram and WhatsApp have become, you know, Facebook strategy,
at least from a market dominance kind of perspective, has
certainly played out. You know, it has proved to be
(02:56):
pretty good. But whether or not it's actually anti trust behavior,
I uppose there's another question. It's also been revealed this
week Askar that Steam has made teams of millions of
dollars in gaming loot crates. For anyone who doesn't know
what a gaming loot crate x is, can you explain
this to us?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, so, luke crate is effectively a form of online
gambling in its purest form. So that may sound a
little bit silly to people who aren't kind of in
the gaming space, but effectively you can buy skins or
aesthetic items for your character in a video game, and
seen as one of the largest publishers in the world
(03:34):
and also the largest online gaming games marketplace. Yeah, so
you basically you want to juge up your character a
little bit, and one of the mechanisms by which you
can do that is you effectively roll in these kind
of roulette style cases where you know you might spend
three or four dollars, you spin the wheel and you
get a certain skin, and obviously some are more desirable
(03:55):
than others, and that's the kind of thing that can
create gambling addictions, especially for young people because especially in
a space like gaming, you know, everything's bright, it's colorful
as part of it, kind of pop cultures like guys,
it's really attractive and seeing like you said, has made
eighty two million dollars in March at the UFD. By
(04:15):
the way, a lot of them just one of their
video games. So yeah, I think it'd be a good
time to take a look at that and see whether
that's creating harmful behavior, whether that's harmful behavior, especially towards
New Zealand young people.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, that's amazing. It's a vast amount of money. So
basically it's almost like a lucky depth bay. So if
you're really into gaming, you can give some money and
it kind of you know, it's like it's like a
roulette or you know, like a pokey or something. Basically,
you give some money and then hope that you get
a skin that you like. But there's no guarantee that
you're going to get there. And people people say, oh,
I didn't get at this time. I just pay a
(04:48):
bit more. I'll just have it more. I'll just have
bit more. It's going to come through sometime soon and
you can see how comparable it is to the more
traditional forms of gambling.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Absolutely, And I think probably the key problem with it
is that because it's such a new frontier, it's nearly
entirely unregulated. Yeah, is on and across the world, right,
and I mean, I think especially as gaming kind of
grows to be I mean, it already is the largest
form of entertainment in the world by the amount of
money it raises every year. But I think it's it's
time that maybe regulators begin to look at how gambling
(05:22):
and gaming can be brought brought to heal.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So, yeah, all very good, Hey, thanks so much for
your time, Oscar and your expertise, that's Tick commentator Oscar
Speaker 1 (05:31):
How For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen
live to news talks that'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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