Each weekend we'll be rounding up a selection of the most interesting articles related to mobile and the games industry at large.
This week includes an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook on why he feels offering options to restrict screen time on the iPhone is the right thing to do, an analysis of Brawl Stars and what the future holds for Supercell's latest game, and Valve effectively states 'anything goes' on the popular PC games marketplace Steam.
See an article you think we should share? Email PocketGamer.biz Craig Chapple at craig.chapple@steelmedia.co.uk to add it to our weekly round-up.
You can find previous editions of The Weekly here.
Apple CEO Tim Cook on screen time controls, working with China
"I think there are cases in life where anything good, used to the extreme, becomes not good. And so, just like - you know, I can eat healthy food all day, but if I eat too much it's no longer good anymore. And so I think just like that, you can depend on your device so much, and spend so much time on certain apps, or pick up your phone so many times during the day that this is no longer good."
What the h _ _ _ happened to Brawl Stars?
"As it stands, Brawl Stars is a fun game but not nearly enough to take on the ever-increasing demands of the market, which has been invaded by battle royale games since Brawl Stars soft launched. You see, while the team was hard at work solving the control and the metagame, they overlooked the core gameplay, which simply lacks depth compared to its rivals today. In other words, Brawl Stars’ design fits the accessibility and session requirements on 2017 but it doesn’t deliver on the same requirements for today’s mobile players They’re competing against Fortnite and PUBG now."
Who gets to be on the Steam store?
"So what does this mean? It means that the Steam Store is going to contain something that you hate, and don't think should exist. Unless you don't have any opinions, that's guaranteed to happen. But you're also going to see something on the Store that you believe should be there, and some other people will hate it and want it not to exist."
Ubisoft believes next-gen Is the last for consoles as Microsoft looks beyond platforms
“It is going to help the triple-A game industry grow much faster. We have to work on the accessibility of those games, to make sure they can be played on any device, but the fact that we will be able to stream those games on mobile phones and television screens without a console is going to change a lot of the industry.”
How Small Giant Games scored big with a single mobile game
"We did casual games first, but that market - we literally failed. We were close to success, but we decided to kill those products pretty quickly and start looking for the big one. How could we really get that top-50 grossing game? What does it take? After a year and a half, we did it."
Players keep spending thousands of dollars on Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
“I understand that it may not fit the legal definition of ‘gambling’, but the motivation of people spending money and effects they can cause are similar to loot boxes. [...] People need to stop being hung up [on] the term ‘gambling’ for loot boxes and look more towards the effects.”
How can indies build their brand?
"I feel like the reason why we don't see a lot of sequels from small studios is because of the way we approach it," he said. "What is making a game to us? For us, it's this creative expression of really wanting to pursue an idea, as opposed to a normal studio where a lot of jobs are on the line, people have families, and you need to have regularity.
EA Motive's Jade Raymond: 'I want to build a different kind of creatively-led studio'
"To truly have creativity and original ideas, you also need a diverse group of people coming together with a culture that lets people contribute their ideas. Good ideas come from everywhere. The team should be made up of people with different experiences, different backgrounds, different ages... I really think that’s the opportunity for the games industry now. We’re mass market. We’re everywhere. More and more people are playing games from different parts of the world. I just feel like now that we have this opportunity to create a new IP, it would be a shame to just use the same formulas that we’ve used before."
The life of a Ninja: Drake, 'Fortnite' and good morals
"I understand that I'm popular. I understand that I'm making money. But at what point does Drake know that he's Drake? At what point can Drake text LeBron, and if LeBron bails or changes plans, he can be like, 'Bro are you kidding me? Come on.' At one point can I stop treading around those questions? For me, I don't think I'll ever change that, because I don't think I'm better than anybody else. And obviously streaming still isn't the NBA or being the most popular rapper in the world. So I don't know if that's something I'll ever be able to shake, and I don't think that's a bad thing."
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