As 2015 begins to fade into memory, we're taking a look back at the events that have dominated the last 12 months in mobile gaming.
As such, we've asked the industry's great and good to give us their take on the year, as well as predicting the trends that will dominate in 2016.
- Nuno Folhadela is the co-founder CEO of leading Portuguese developer Bica Studios. The studio's debut game, Smash Time, is currently in development.
PocketGamer.biz: What was the most significant mobile games news of 2015?
Nuno Folhadela: The Portuguese investment in Bica Studios!
The investors on this side of the world are starting to see the mobile gaming potential and so they are betting on it.
The fact that Miniclip is based here and our ambition to succeed with a strategy plan, helped this to happen.
Also, the long awaited jump of Nintendo to mobile and the announcement of the Hololens development kit was significant as well.
How did the focus of your business change in 2015?
We had been building new gaming IPs with great characters and narrative arcs, but we needed to shift our focus towards the development of tools so we can have faster production cycles for our next games, and also to build up our analytic system.
I'm confident that we will see new, creative UA campaigns.Nuno Folhadela
More than make a game, we need to build a gaming studio.
What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2016?
VR will kick in and space opera will be everywhere, from Star Wars to Star Trek!
I'm also confident that we will see new, creative UA campaigns.
At least we are looking to make some bold moves on that subject.
What was your favourite mobile game of the year?
What a weird question for a developer. Simple! Our game Smash Time - the best smasher on the planet since the dawn of time!
Besides that, I got totally addicted to Unlimited Spiderman. Amazing production value and one of the few on mobile that had my jaw dropping all the time.
What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?
We are building and throwing games like razors. Shouldn't someone be tracking all of the game content out there?
So many games, good and bad, that are getting lost and without any record. It would be nice to see a database with all of them.
You can check out all of our 2015 in Review interviews here.
