German free-to-play specialist Bigpoint is to close down its mobile development business, with a total of 29 employees set to lose their jobs.
In a statement delivered to GamesIndustry.biz, the company revealed the majority of its mobile projects already in development are set to be cancelled.
The closure comes after MDs Philip and Tobias Reisberger also announced that they are to leave the firm.
Right market, wrong time
"I'm a big believer in mobile, it's going to change many things in the games industry," said CEO Heiko Hubertz of the news.
"But I also think it's not the right time at the moment to be in this market because to generate revenues in this market is very tough.
"For that reason we decided also to close our internal mobile games development. We will not continue to create mobile games internally."
Hubertz said Bigpoint has a total of 10 mobile games currently in development.
Some of them are ready to go and will launch within the next few weeks, while the rest will be "completely closed and shut down."
Mobile move
Moving on from mobile, Bigpoint will now focus its business on opening new offices to support bases already established in Paris, London, Rome, San Francisco and Sao Paulo.
The Reisberger brothers, however, are to stay within the mobile space.
The former Bigpoint men have reportedly told LinkedIn contacts that they are to form a new development outfit called AppFlag, as well as a business focusing on analytics for the free-to-play market.
Indeed, back in December, Philip Reisberger told PocketGamer.biz that success in the mobile market was "very important" to him.
"We're currently in the process of understanding the market," he said, adding that the tablet would be the "next big competitor to the console."
[source: GamesIndustry.biz]
News
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
Related Articles
Comment & Opinion
Apr 5th, 2017
New MD, new mobile games and a new strategy: How Bigpoint is evolving its business
Top Stories
News
5 hours, 29 minutes ago
EU ruling gives Apple six months to bring iPadOS into line with DMA demands
News
7 hours, 12 minutes ago
Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen joins LEGO’s board of directors days after Squad Busters’ soft launch
News
8 hours, 30 minutes ago
A Thinking Ape lays off staff across game design, software engineering, art teams and more
Feature
7 hours, 39 minutes ago
King’s Paula Ingvar: a games industry journey from "I’m not worthy!" to Candy Crush Soda’s VP of product
Feature
11 hours, 49 minutes ago
Hot Five: Supercell’s Squad Busters levels up, retro Nintendo on iOS, and Genshin Impact’s worst month yet
News
Apr 26th, 2024
Week in Views - Squads busted, Apple crushed, War zoned and Snoozin' with the Snorlax…
Events
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 | Middle East | May 2nd |
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Popular Stories
News
Apr 23rd, 2024
Supercell’s Squad Busters soft launches today with over 100,000 Google Play downloads
News
Apr 25th, 2024