TOGETHER WITH

It's Monday and seven years after the death of Stan Lee, attendees at LA Comic Con will get the chance to chat with an AI hologram of the late comic book legend.

Today’s News

GAME ON

Meta is paying devs $2.5M to make Horizon mobile games

The context: Meta is betting big on the gaming side of Horizon. The virtual reality destination is tied to the tech giant’s VR arm Oculus, whose devices have historically been used to access an interconnected web of virtual entertainment, meeting, and work spaces. But with the fervor around the metaverse dying off—and the end of social distancing undermining Meta’s virtual work-from-home aspirations—the company has shifted its focus to gaming.

Now, Meta is doubling-down on that strategy by offering $2.5 million to creators who make polished, “genre-focused” games for deployment in Horizon.

The competition: As part of the Horizon Creator Competition, Meta is asking developers to make games that will work “seamlessly” across both VR headsets and mobile devices. The company says it will accept all genres of game—but it seems to be placing a special emphasis on the type of titles that have risen to prominence on Roblox in recent years. It specifically mentions seeking out “simulation” games (like tycoon titles and incrementals) and “roleplay & avatar sim” games, including those in the dress-up genre.

The details: Entries must be submitted by October 30, and will be judged by visual and sound designs, user experience designs, overall technical expertise, and the integration of social experiences. Another major consideration: Meta says developers must use “at least one GenAI feature in building your world.”

Devs behind the top four games will each get $200,000, while the remaining $1.7 million will be divvied up between 31 devs “across multiple exciting categories” (per Meta). Winners will be announced by November 13.

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What’s on your VidSummit 2025 agenda?

The best and brightest stars of the creator economy are about to converge in Dallas, Texas. 

From October 7-9, leading video makers, brands, and agencies will unite for the only conference where the top 1% of creators share their secrets: VidSummit. With so much packed into three days, now is the time to plan your agenda. 

Here are 3 of the buzziest events at VidSummit 2025:

“How to Build a Content Creation Business That Lasts” (Wednesday, October 8)
Join Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips for a keynote outlining a simple “ABCD approach” to creation and management, with steps like “Building an A-Team,” “Adopting a Business Mindset,” and “Taking on Calculated Risks.”

“How We Turned Around a Dying Channel to 2 Billion Views” (Wednesday, October 8)
In this candid session, Dzung Lewis shares the details of a 10-year journey of trial, error, pivots, and plateaus—and the creation of a Shorts-focused channel flipped everything. 

Creators in Fashion (Thursday, October 9)
Theorist and Lunar X will bring their shoppable catwalk to VidSummit’s mainstage, closing the conference with a live, high-style spectacle hosted by MatPat and Amy Roberts.

Tickets to VidSummit have sold out every year for the past half-decade. Hit the link below to claim yours:

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• As Donald Trump continues to talk up a TikTok deal, the president says Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch are “probably gonna be in the group” of investors backing a U.S.-based version of the platform. (TechCrunch)
  
  

• Netflix is rumored to be considering an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. (Gizmodo)
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• Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have reportedly warned employees on HB-1 visas to avoid traveling abroad amid Trump’s overhaul of the visa system. (TechCrunch)
  
  

• As OpenAI makes moves to build its first consumer hardware product, the ChatGPT developer has reportedly begun poaching Apple employees. (Tom’s Hardware)

DREAM TEAM

YouTube and Creators HQ just launched their first MENA creator academy

The creator academy: YouTube is joining forces with Creators HQ—a United Arab Emirates makerspace and creator biz dev/educational organization dedicated to bringing 10,000 new creators to the region—to launch the first YouTube Academy in the Middle East & North Africa.

According to Javid Aslanov (Google’s Head of YouTube MENA), that program will “supercharg[e] our commitment to creators by bringing our exclusive workshops to even more talent across the region.” Aslanov added that the Academy is aimed to “specifically help emerging creators stand out by moving beyond generic advice and providing them with actionable, in-depth knowledge across content production, analytics and community-building.”

The end goal is to give MENA-based creators “the keys to a thriving career on YouTube” by providing “actionable, in-depth knowledge” across topics like mastering YouTube’s multiple formats (long-form, Shorts, livestreams, etc), reaching audiences across devices (living room TV, mobile, etc), understanding YouTube’s monetization tools (ads, brand deals, and more), dissecting YouTube Studio’s channel analytics, and unlocking strategies for community-building.

The summit: The Academy kicks off in the lead-up to 1 Billion Followers Summit 2026, which is expected to bring tens of thousands of digital content creators and industry experts to the Emirates Towers, Museum of the Future, and the International Financial Center in Dubai for three days of biz dev programming and networking.

Tickets for 1 Billion Followers Summit are available here.

FYI: 1 Billion Followers Summit and Creators HQ are Tubefilter partners.

LISTEN UP

This week on the podcast…

“Sephora or Bust”: On the latest installment of Creator Upload, hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper sit down with YouTube superstar Jordan Matter to chat about the debut of Sincerely Yours, the skincare brand he created with his daughter Salish.

Tune into the full episode to hear the unbelievable story of their launch event, when an expected crowd of a few thousand turned into an unprecedented 87,000 fans, shutting down one of America's largest malls. It’s all right here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.