Google Play tests hub features, Runescape beta comes to Android, and Clash Royale snags $2 billion

The past weeks hottest articles

• 5 Four years on: Jam City on the evolution of match-three hit Cookie Jam

  

  With four years behind, Cookie Jam has been up for download a good while. With over 110 million downloads behind, the match-three hit has stayed the course well. 

  According to Jam City GM and VP of creative development Shane Nakamura it's been four years filled with "wins and challenges".

  "Shortly after the launch of the game, we saw pretty rapid growth week over week. There was less saturation, less competition, cheaper UA, and any improvement to the game seemed to yield big wins," he said. 

  "Over time, achieving growth in the game has become more challenging. The marketplace has changed in many ways, causing us to take different approaches and focus on new ways to improve the game’s performance.

  "Even today, four years later, Cookie Jam is growing and reaching new performance milestones."

  
  

• 4 How DomiNations kept going for three years and made $150 million in the process

  

  History is a vast well of inspiration, which is probably why so many games use it as a setting. That's certainly the case for DomiNations, which has kept going for over three years thanks to the steady hand of Big Huge Games. 

  Plucking from history is seldom enough, however, to keep a boat like DomiNations afloat. According to BHG CEO Tim Train it was a focus on live ops that has kept the game adaptable and fresh.

  "As we’ve gotten better at learning what players enjoy from live ops, we have been able to invest even more in creating the right kind of experiences," says Train.

  "All this is the result of a lot of hard work from our Product team, particularly Game GM Brian DeSanti, long-time BHG lead product manager Jen Airoldi and live ops specialist Sean Antia, who have all done a great job continuing to grow the game long past when other titles have entered maintenance mode."

  
  

• 3 Supercell’s Clash Royale plunders $2 billion in revenues in just over two years

  

  Supercell's popular collectable card game and tower defence hybrid Clash Royale has racked up more than $2 billion in revenue.

  It took Clash Royale just over two years to pass the milestone, having launched back in March 2016.

  It all has Supercell looking rather flush for cash. Reaching the sales milestone means the Finnish dev has become the first mobile publisher to have more than one multi-billion-dollar game on both the App Store and Google Play.

  Its other hit strategy game Clash of Clans has reportedly sailed on by the $6 billion mark and launched back in 2012. Not bad.

  
  

• 2 Old-School Runescape comes to mobile with an open beta on Android

  

  Jagex's Old School version of Runescape has entered open beta on Android.

  After announcing a mobile port of the classic MMORPG last year, developer Jagex launched the open beta period for Old School Runescape on Android last Thursday.

  “After a series of incredibly successful closed testing periods, it's time for Old School RuneScape Mobile on Android to make the jump to open testing,” said Jagex in a statement.

  “As of 2pm BST on July 5th, players with membership will be able to download, install, and play the Android Members beta.”

  
  

• 1 Google Play testing news and trending hub features with Google Play Games

  

  Google is tinkering with a new news and trending hub feature and bundling it together in Google Play Games.

  Currently open for public testing, it acts as the news section and is tailored to the games the individual has installed. The content is amalgamated from various third-party sites and delivered to one place.

  However, it doesn’t seem to be customisable like Google Feed, which lets users dismiss news stories or tailor the algorithm to show more or fewer stories from a publication.

  The trending section works as one would expect, which is through displaying the market's most popular games such as Pokemon Go, PUBG Mobile and Roblox.