Hot Five

Apple Watch games, making money with Best Fiends, and Amazon swipes CryEngine

A glance at last week's top stories

Apple Watch games, making money with Best Fiends, and Amazon swipes CryEngine

Stepping away from our half-packed suitcases ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Bangalore in a few days time, we took pause to consider the top five stories of last week.

Apple finally heaved open the floodgates for its spangly new smartwatch, so we thought the time was right to put together a list of the first few games blazing a trail to launch on the Apple Watch. 

Our weekly Charticle also took a look at Finnish startup Seriously's popular match-3 puzzler, Best Fiends. It may have just hit the 1 million DAU milestone, but how well and where is it monetising?

Then, of course, came the revelation that Crytek was saved back in 2014 from financial disaster by none other than Amazon in a deal that opened up CryEngine to the commerce behemoth.

Other stories that captured the clicks included news that Rovio Stars scooped Mark Sorrell for its team, and Electronic Arts signed a multi-title partnership enabling it to create mobile games using the Minions characters from filmmaking company Illumination Entertainment.

So there's the summary, but click below to get the lowdown on each story in full.


Click here to view the list »
  • 5 EA steals Minions licence from Gameloft

    EA steals Minions licence from Gameloft logo

    Electronic Arts signed a deal last week that will allow it to create mobile games using characters from filmmaking company Illumination Entertainment across multiple titles.

    Illumination Entertainment created the box office smash-hit Despicable Me, and is letting loose its yellow minions for the first game of the collaboration, Minions Paradise.

    It’s a blow to Gameloft, which has for two years successfully held the license for the franchise.

    Its game, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, celebrated half a billion downloads last month and the accolade of “highest downloaded licensed game in the world across the App Store and Google Play” in 2014.

     


  • 4 Rovio Stars continues to build dream team with the appointment of F2P consultant Mark Sorrell

    Rovio Stars continues to build dream team with the appointment of F2P consultant Mark Sorrell logo

    In its third high-profile hire in as many months, last week Rovio pinched F2P game design consultant Mark Sorrell for its publishing arm Rovio Stars.

    Taking on the role of senior product manager, we caught up with Sorrell to discuss why he made the move, what the role entails and what the future holds for the company.

    "At the moment, I think free-to-play games are in a weird place as we've moved from most people not knowing anything to knowing some things that work," Sorrell said.

    "So there's been a movement from literally copying games wholesale to starting to understand how this particular bit of that game worked, and copying it.

    "The next part of the process - the exciting bit - is understanding how that bit of that game worked and then working out new ways to make new things work."


  • 3 Amazon makes another strategic gaming move with $50 million CryEngine deal

    Amazon makes another strategic gaming move with $50 million CryEngine deal logo

    2014 saw German PC developer Crytek wrestling with serious financial issues, which were abated when it secured a major licensing deal with a mystery company.

    Last week it was finally revealed that the agreement was forged with Amazon over CryEngine, Crytek’s powerful proprietary toolset that has been used in the development of its entire games catalogue.

    Exactly how much was spent on the deal and what Amazon intends to do with its newfound technology remains unclear.

    However, what is certain is this is the latest in a string of strategic moves that are taking Amazon further across the gaming chess board.

    The retail giant clearly has big plans for the gaming space, whether developing its own or encouraging developers to make more for its own devices.


  • 2 It's got 10 million downloads, but is Best Fiends' generating millions?

    It's got 10 million downloads, but is Best Fiends' generating millions? logo

    Finnish start-up Seriously has been very vocal about the alternative marketing campaigns it's been running for its polished debut match-3 puzzle Best Fiends.

    They appear to be paying off too, given the news that the game - now available on Google Play and the Apple App Store - has now broken the 10 million downloads mark and hit 1 million daily active players.

    But how well and where is it monetising?

    That was the question for last week's Charticle, where Jon Jordan examined Best Fiends' position in many of the world's key gaming markets. 

    With strongholds in Japan, Finland and Russia's top grossing charts, can Seriously prove that the franchise has some serious clout?


  • 1 From Best Fiends and Real Racing 3 to Runeblade and Spy_Watch - 29 games for Apple Watch

    From Best Fiends and Real Racing 3 to Runeblade and Spy_Watch - 29 games for Apple Watch logo

    In the most anticipated landing (sort of) since Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Apple Watch pre-orders launched last week.

    But it's games that we're interested in, and already a slew of titles designed especially for the smartwatch have appeared in the App Store.

    Of course, eventually the number is going to spiral out of all tracking capability, but in the meantime we put together a short list of what games you can get now.

    We even put them in alphabetical order for you. You're welcome.


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