Welcome to episode three of the thrillingly new and exciting PocketGamer.biz podcast. This is our chance to reach into the whole wide world of mobile games and pick some of the most experienced, expert and interesting people around the world and find out more about what they do.
After talking about funding, finance, publishing and live ops in the first couple of episodes, episode three has us drilling down into development.
You can stream this podcast episode free in all the usual places including Apple, Spotify, Google and all your preferred platforms, or listen directly here now:
Cobra Mobile
We invited Cobra Mobile chief executive officer Mark Ettle to come and chat with the PocketGamer team. Mark's a veteran of the global games industry, starting his career at the legendary DMA Design - the studio behind Lemmings and the behemoth that is Grand Theft Auto.
Cobra was a pioneer of the App Store, producing some early hits - including Low Grav Racer and iBomber.
Mark talks about the value of game design in the era of hypercasual games, creating intellectual property (IP) and why the studio is now 'mobile first' instead of 'mobile only'.
News Roundup
The team also focuses on some of the key news stories from the last few weeks, touching on the winners of the Mobile Games Awards, which took place in central London - yes, in real life - as well as online.
With 22 categories of awards, it’s a competition open to almost every area of the industry. This year’s winners included: gaming giant Tencent (Best Publisher) as well as Jana and Sham Al Bdour of Sakura Games, who picked this year’s Rising Stars.
The news that two 'media' companies - Zoom and Netflix - have announced a move into gaming also comes under the spotlight. Does this mark the start of another land grab from companies in other areas, eyeing the vast riches found within the world of games?
Finally, the team discusses the ongoing situation with Activision Blizzard and the problems of bullying, harassment and discrimination in the games industry. What will it take for the sector to change?
Show Notes
- Mobile Games Awards winners
- Netflix and Zoom move into games
- Activision Blizzard lawsuit/strike
- Special guest: an interview with Cobra Mobile’s Mark Ettle
- Pocket Gamer Launchpad (August 12th to 13th, 2021)
- The Big Indie Pitch (August 26th, 2021)
- Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #8 (September 27th to October 1st, 2021)
Get in touch
As always, we’d love to hear your feedback, thoughts and ideas. Email us: podcast@pocketgamer.biz or get in touch via our @PGBiz handle on Twitter.
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