The Diary Game 09/01/2022 - Popcorn Time, a Streaming Application for Pirated Movies, is Closing

Popcorn Time's official website no longer includes a download link for the once popular application, but only a graph that tracks the popularity of the application in Google searches in recent years, which has been steadily declining. It seems that the reason why Popcorn Time disappears is the lack of popularity among users.


Popcorn Time has been confirmed by the development team


Popcorn Time appeared in 2014, and at that time became a very popular application among fans of movies and series, as it offered a quick way to have free access to all the content they needed. The fact that everything was done by streaming live from torrent sites ensured that there were no more waiting times for download, and at the end of the movie or episode, the space occupied locally was immediately released.

Over time, however, Popcorn Time has faced various problems. The application disappeared a few more times and returned to other domains and internet servers. However, it seems that it is not the anti-piracy of companies that has brought the end of the application, but the users.

Basically, they already find their content in other places and do not necessarily need such an application. Whether some prefer to download movies and access them from a Plex server, or others have switched to paid services that offer a better user experience and video quality, or direct access to TV, it is certain that few more use streaming via a torrent application on a PC.

Of course, the disappearance of Popcorn Time does not mean that piracy has been defeated. On the contrary. Internet users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the fragmentation of streaming services, with many companies opening new such services with exclusive content every year. Thus, in protest of the rising costs of gaining legal access to these services, many are canceling their subscriptions and returning to their old habits.

140,000 mobile game developers go bankrupt after China blocked access to official app stores

Until recently, the highly profitable business, the development of mobile games and then their sale through internationally open app stores, such as the App Store and Play Store, is no longer allowed for Chinese companies.

Established a long time ago, China's strict control over mobile game developers operating through the App Store, or other app stores opening in Western markets, has turned into a veritable iron curtain. According to the rules imposed by Beijing, all developers who produce mobile games with the intention of distributing them through large app stores can do so only under license, which must be obtained and renewed product in part, both at launch and for any subsequent change. Faced with the insurmountable bureaucracy of the licensing system, software developers in the first phase gave up regular updates to game titles already published in the AppStore or Play Store catalog. But from there, things degenerated into a total deadlock, with Beijing authorities simply stopping issuing licenses to game developers.

According to the Beijing press, lawmakers have decided to suspend gaming license approvals as early as July 2021 on the grounds that requests from developers are a little too aggressive. As a result, iOS games have not been updated and have even begun to disappear from the Chinese version of the App Store, with measures taken by Apple itself being justified by its obligation to comply with local laws.

Although it seems like a new development, in reality China is restricting the activity of this industry from 2020, no less than 180,000 companies pulling the shutters since the first wave of regulations. But this time, the effects are felt even by big players like ByteDance (the owner of TikTok), Baidu and Tanwan Games, through successive waves of layoffs of employees involved in game development.

Although it seems funny, the Chinese Communist Party has decided since 2020 to ban Chinese citizens from playing online games with gamers from other countries, but also to talk online with them. The decision was made after several residents of Taiwan, a country bordering the People's Republic of China, used their gaming communication options to express dissatisfaction with the Chinese Communist Party and its inability to take action to prevent it. crisis caused by the new coronavirus.

Thus, we can only assume that the current measures are also motivated by the insecurity of the Beijing Power towards modern technology and the possibilities opened by it in the direction of facilitating freedom of expression.

Last member of my NFT family :)