To help you keep on top of a busy news cycle and the latest hot topics in mobile gaming, each week we round up the five most-read stories on PocketGamer.biz.
Read on and digest…
5. Update: Ubisoft game director Scott Warner joins Tencent's TiMi Studios
Former Ubisoft game director Scott Warner has joined Tencent's TiMi Studios as its new studio director.
Founded in 2008, the Los Angeles-based studio has been expanding its team for quite some time, as it prepares to ramp up development on triple-A games. Most notably, TiMi partnered with The Pokemon Company in July last year to create and launch a game based off of the popular IP.
4. Ubisoft sues Apple and Google over a mobile "copy" of Rainbow Six Siege
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or something, but Ubisoft definitely wasn't feeling too bashful about Area F2 on mobile, as it decided to sue Apple and Google for allowing the game on their stores.
It was a bit of a weird move to be honest, but it worked - the game has been pulled from stores as the developer works to revamp the game and make it a lot less like Ubisoft's landmark esports shooter.
3. King is making its Defold game engine open source
King's mobile and web game engine Defold is to be made available as an open source project.
As part of the move, King is spinning out a new software foundation called the Defold Foundation. The foundation's board will be headed by Candy Crush Saga producer Sara Cederberg, who was formerly the director of engineering for the engine.
2. NetEase unveils Norse mythology-inspired mobile AAA game Project Ragnarok
Imitation is the sincerest form of- wait, haven't we done this already? Never mind - NetEase has unveiled a new game, Project Ragnarok, which will be an open-world cross-platform title based on Norse mythology.
We're not outright saying that this looks a bit like the recently announced console title Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - for one, it's a lot more anime in style - but it's certainly a great time to be announcing a Nordic-inspired game.
1. Garena's Free Fire records 80 million daily active users
Garena's mobile battle royale Free Fire has broken its record for daily active users as it hit 80 million.
Previously, its record was 60 million, as shared in March 2020. In terms of downloads, Free Fire came third in the global downloads list for Google Play for Q1 2020.
