To keep you up to date on the biggest news in mobile gaming, we round up the five most-read stories on PocketGamer.biz each week.
Read on and digest…
1. Sky Mavis appoints former Pokémon Go product manager as Axie Infinity game product lead
Philip La announced his move from Niantic, perhaps the most successful AR entity in the mobile games industry, to Sky Mavis, where he will manage the Axie Infinity economy and game roadmap, as well as oversee the production of Origin and Land.
La spoke with PocketGamer.biz about the "paradigm shift" blockchain represents to gaming, the Axie economy, and whether the wider public needs to accept blockchain gaming for it to proliferate.
2. ironSource launches 3rd Supersonic Superstars hypercasual contest
The third Supersonic Superstars game development contest opened on February 7 and will run to April 7 2022. There is a $2 million prize available for any game published by July 7 that reaches 8 million downloads on iOS in the US.
Previous Supersonic winners have seen significant success; according to ironSource, the winner of the last contest, Bridge Race, was the most downloaded hypercasual title worldwide in 2021.
3. iCandy Interactive acquires 51% stake in hypercasual games startup Storms
Australian mobile games outfit iCandy Interactive acquired a 51 per cent stake in Singapore-based games startup Storms for an undisclosed amount.
Storms will continue to operate its own brand and retain its team whilst iCandy will focus on scaling its games services to Singel, AIS, and SK Telecom users. Meanwhile, Storms’ management team will join the existing iCandy management team.
4. Sensor Tower: US mobile gamers spent $4.4 billion on money-themed games in 2021
Money sells, right? Sensor Tower research reveals US consumer spending on money- and treasure-themed mobile games reached $4.4 billion, making it the US’ highest-grossing games theme in 2021.
Sensor Tower also released a report in early February that found that 20 per cent of all metaverse related apps on the App Store and Google Play were mobile games.
5. Horizon Blockchain Games launches NFT trading card game Skyweaver
Horizon Blockchain Games launched an open beta for its free-to-play cross-platform Web3 trading card game, Skyweaver – and, notably, it is available to download on the App Store and Google Play.
Skyweaver soft launched on November 25 2021 and has generated $1.8 million in player spending.
