Tips for cross-promoting as an indie, the making of Black Anvil's Warlords, and an interview with King's Riccardo Zacconi

The hottest articles of last week

• 5 InnoGames eyes mobile future and global expansion after $100 million MTG deal

  

  ESL owner Modern Times Group recently invested $100 million into German games developer InnoGames - and now the once browser games developer is aiming for a global mobile future.

  "InnoGames’ focus is currently on developing mobile-only titles, while keeping our high quality operations of all live games," he says.

  "Our very strong position in the free-to-play market and the insights gained in these early stages, our excellent team and MTG’s network and expertise will help us in continually improving our products and bring them and our exciting new titles to even larger audiences around the world."

  
  

• 4 6 tips for mobile cross-promotion: The smart indie dev’s low-cost UA strategy

  

  For indies, finding a cheap way to acquire users is priority number one. How can you make any kind of money if no one's playing your game?

  One method of acquiring users is cross-promotion, something which Johannes Heinze, Managing Director for EMEA of AppLovin, knows all about.

  "Run cross-promotions on unprofitable placements where you wouldn’t normally show ads," he writes.

  "For example, if there's a placement after the user returns from reviewing your game, that could be a good place to show an acknowledgment such as: 'Glad you're enjoying our games! Here are some more!'"

  
  

• 3 Black Anvil's first and last game: the making of Warlords

  

  Black Anvil's Warlords is a really good game. You can't doubt that. We even gave it a spot on our Game of the Week list when it was first released.

  So it's a shame that the team has been disbanded and the game won't be worked on any more, as we found out in our Making Of feature on it.

  "The team is really proud that we were able to ship a polished game with most of the features we had envisioned in the early days of development, like PvP and PvE modes," said the game's producer, Kaspar Hübener.

  "With Wooga’s current focus on more casual genres in mind, we see Warlords as effectively feature complete."

  
  

• 2 Gameforge lays off around 90 staff as it pulls out of mobile

  

  Mobile games are a highly competitive market, so while it's sad when a company decides to lay off its mobile staff and pivot to something else, it's not entirely surprising.

  The latest company to move away from mobile is German publisher Gameforge, which laid off a fifth of its staff as it moves to the PC market.

  Gameforge is believed to have been employing around 450 people at the time of its layoffs, meaning 90 jobs were lost in the process.

  Its mobile games, which included TERA, Runes of Magic, Aion, and Orcs Must Die Unchained were said to not be performing as well as the company had hoped.

  
  

• 1 Hall of Fame: King CEO Riccardo Zacconi on building a mobile gaming powerhouse

  

  King is a company that needs no introduction, and its CEO, Riccardo Zacconi, has been at the helm since it started up way back in 2003.

  Despite it being his first venture into the games industry, he helped turn it into the successful business it is today, and is truly deserving of a place in our Hall of Fame.

  "We have built a fantastic culture and have some of the most talented people working at King, all around the world, who I enjoy working with every day," he said.

  "We've also worked hard to create some of the best-loved mobile games franchises in the world."