Uber Planning to Add Mini Games to iPhone App to Play During a Ride

[Timo_Existencia]

Skip the games and lower the cost of a ride.

Never ever going to happen. Uber, Uber Eats, Spotify, et al are charging much too little in order to build marketshare. But they are struggling to be profitable. And the gig economy is struggling to pay its workers a livable wage.

All of these services need to dramatically increase their fares. Whether or not you still see value in them will be a different question.

 

[Capeto]

The things companies do to sustain infinite growth are hilarious sometimes.

 

[akula1488]

how about watch ads and earn credits

 

[.wojtek]

bloat... bloat everywhere... why can't we get back to one app for one service?

 

[minik]

during ride? of course they know your location lol

True. One with the app may access the game outside the ride sharing period, time will tell.

 

[Canyonero]

Should concentrate on more consistent car quality, better drivers, less smells and a better rating system (everyone has five stars). Since I discovered Waymo, I haven’t used Uber once where Waymo is available.

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Never ever going to happen. Uber, Uber Eats, Spotify, et al are charging much too little in order to build marketshare. But they are struggling to be profitable. And the gig economy is struggling to pay its workers a livable wage.

All of these services need to dramatically increase their fares. Whether or not you still see value in them will be a different question.

Yup. People act like Uber takes 50% or something, but it’s not anywhere near that. Drivers don’t make enough because fares are low. There really needs to be a higher minimum fare, because drivers often spend 15 minutes or more of driving and waiting for a 5 minute ride.

 

[iHorseHead]

Uber should just focus on offering better values. Lower cost or pay the drivers more fairly. If you have an excess engineering resource to make games, you have too many engineers.

In my country an uber ride costs $4

 

[alexandr]

This would be for the driver, I hope?

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Imagine doing all of this instead of fairly compensating your workforce.

 

[coffeemilktea]

Someone on the board of executives is getting paid a very large salary to come up with ideas like "so what if our ride-sharing apps had games? I bet people would much rather play our games than whatever games are already on their phone, right? 🤔"

Pretty sure that executive-level thinking is worth a six figure bonus. 💰

 

[mrgraff]

One line of code says that the gaming feature will require an internet connection.

Really? I mean I guess that's important to know if the game isn't working, but isn't the Uber app completely useless without an internet connection anyway? Never have I gotten into an Uber and then put my phone on Airplane Mode.

 

[mondaiguy]

No one asked for this, I'm sure.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Uber should just focus on offering better values. Lower cost or pay the drivers more fairly. If you have an excess engineering resource to make games, you have too many engineers.

Totally agree. This is also the same case with mini games in Netflix and YouTube. They’re putting resources where none is needed.

 

[california_kid]

Ha! This is brilliant! Uber will pay billions to buy the top games that can only be played thru their app. It's free as long as you are on a Uber ride so we will see 20 hour Uber rides become common place. I just wished I would have thought of this!

 

[Dj64Mk7]

The constant need for distraction is really not healthy for modern society.

Corporations can only be expected to seize on it and profit in any form possible.

I’m not sure if the trend can be traced back to Vine, but somewhere between Musical.ly and TikTok is where it really started to pick up.

It’s truly depressing, because even my own mom (who is a boomer) thinks it does her some sort of good to have, as an an example, the TV on for background noise, playing a predatory mobile game on her MacBook, and looking stuff up (or watching Facebook Reels) on her phone, all at the exact same time.

It’s disheartening, and frankly it kind of disgusts me.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

It’s disheartening, and frankly it kind of disgusts me.

Amen to that. Makes me worry for the future.

 

[peneaux]

Making the app even more bloated! It’s 400mb already and they have “performance updates and bug fixes” every single week. Great way to waste people’s data and Telcos bandwidth.

Then you have the problem of not paying drivers fairly. I was leaving New Orleans airport and took a 7min ride. It cost me $21 (without tip). The driver (like me, big and beautiful woman) said “I see it will be a short ride since I’m getting only $5 bucks”. I was going to give her no tip and bad review but understood it was Uber’s fault for charging an outrageous commission from the ride.

Lyft does the same. They take more money from the ride than the actual driver who’s spending his time and devaluating his car.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Making the app even more bloated! It’s 400mb already and they have “performance updates and bug fixes” every single week. Great way to waste people’s data and Telcos bandwidth.

Then you have the problem of not paying drivers fairly. I was leaving New Orleans airport and took a 7min ride. It cost me $21 (without tip). The driver (like me, big and beautiful woman) said “I see it will be a short ride since I’m getting only $5 bucks”. I was going to give her no tip and bad review but understood it was Uber’s fault for charging an outrageous commission from the ride.

Lyft does the same. They take more money from the ride than the actual driver who’s spending his time and devaluating his car.

What did she mean by, “it will only be a short ride”?

I recently took an Uber from the northern end of the city I live in to the eastern part of the city, which is about a 20 minute drive with a distance of about 8.5 miles, and Uber charged me about $28. That’s insane, especially considering that the local bus system is notoriously slow and unreliable, leaving me (as a person with disabilities who is unable to drive) no way to get anywhere around town that’s not arranging with friends or family to drive me. All because cities are made for cars, first and foremost. 😔

 

[Isamilis]

Uber appears to be planning to offer mini games that can be played within its iPhone app, according to hidden code in the app.

MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered several references to the ability to load games in the latest version of the Uber app, released on Monday. One line of code says that the gaming feature will require an internet connection.

It is unclear when Uber plans to make the mini games available to the public, and there is no guarantee that the feature will launch. No further details are known at this time, beyond the new lines of code added to the app, so we cannot confirm if the games will be available for free or require in-app purchases.

By offering games in its iPhone app, Uber would provide passengers with a convenient way to stay entertained during a ride. Uber would be following in the footsteps of YouTube, which added some lightweight games to its iPhone app last month.

Article Link: Uber Planning to Add Mini Games to iPhone App to Play During a Ride

How long will the ride? I think most people will just read books or listen to music instead.

 

[svish]

Good to know. Wonder how many will play games on Uber app

 

[peneaux]

What did she mean by, “it will only be a short ride”?

She was opening a conversation in a way to point that she was not making money from the ride and was expecting a tip.

Annoying but understandable. I gave her a tip but made me upset how Uber is ripping drivers and passengers.

It was 4-5am and there was no buses.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

This is so stupid that I'm going to pretend I never read about it.