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The Weekly: How games companies avoid income tax, NetEase's Western expansion, and how Game Freak designs pokemon

Rounding up the week's industry analysis and news from around the internet

The Weekly: How games companies avoid income tax, NetEase's Western expansion, and how Game Freak designs pokemon

Each weekend we'll be rounding up a selection of the most interesting articles related to mobile and the games industry at large.

This week includes an investigation into the games companies that avoid paying income tax, how NetEase is looking to Nintendo for inspiration, how Game Freak designs all those pokemon, and Jam City CEO Chris DeWolfe bigs up the company's potential IPO.

See an article you think we should share? Email PocketGamer.biz Craig Chapple at craig.chapple@steelmedia.co.uk to add it to our weekly round-up.

How American game companies avoid paying income tax

Nintendo's Chinese rival wants to know what makes Western gamers tick

“Whenever we demonstrate our titles worldwide, people can see our self-made titles have very high production values,” said vice president of NetEase Games Ethan Wang. “But the problem is that while we may make very good games, we are not familiar with the rhythm of overseas users, their ways of playing games.”

Here's how Game Freak designs Pokemon creatures

“One thing we always really pay attention to is treating them like living creatures so you have to try and imagine where it would live in the environment and why it looks the way it does, what would it eat? For example,” [Pokemon director, producer, and composer Junichi] Masuda says. “When designing Pokemon, and not just from a graphic design perspective, there must be a reason for why it looks the way it does and you have to think about why it might live in the Pokemon world.”

Jam City CEO Chris DeWolfe talks mobile gaming strategy - and a 2019 IPO

"A lot of companies have failed, because they’ve gotten out of their sweet spot. The games we develop are typically within a similar genre, demographic, and mindset - mostly female-focused, evergreen-type games - and have time-honored game mechanics [playing methods]. Like-minded demos makes them easier to cross-promote throughout our network."

The quiet rise of China's $3 billion eSports market

"There remains a lot of ignorance from the older generation of video gaming, especially when it leads to concerns about addiction, violent acts, and even theft. To China’s younger generation, however, gaming is an essential part of their social identity."

The impact of gaming and technology on culture

"The Digital Jam Sessions cover a combination of different industries and expertise to create unique discussions, views and collaborations that create a new “digital melting pot” of diverse flavoursome topics."

Why did 500k people pay for Epic’s free-to-play title Fortnite on its first day?

"We just found out with a couple of things in the market, and Paragon, that ultimately free-to-play is the best way to reach the widest possible audience. Everybody who wants to participate in the game can with a low barrier of entry."

Why the next Grand Theft Auto could be the last Grand Theft Auto

"...Successful online games have now been demonstrated to have extremely long potential shelf life. (We need a new term, "shelf life" just doesn't cut it for virtual online worlds.) World of Warcraft launched in 2004. Still going strong. Dark Age of Camelot launched in 2001. Still going. Ultima Online launched in 1997 and this September will celebrate 20 years of continuous operation. They are all profitable and show no signs of shutting down."

Ilari Kuittinen, the oldest gaming CEO in Finland

"In this episode we chat about the early days of the Finnish gaming industry when there was only about 20 passionate young guys making Amiga games, about how Housemarque found its identity making incredible experiences for selected platforms and about the tough times as well."

Someone live streamed themselves sexually harassing me

"I feel like I can look after myself, but being exposed to the public humiliation of women on the internet in front of a live audience… I was speechless. The IRL Category of Twitch was being used like its own game by this “militia", as a means to attack and discriminate against women simply existing in the same space as them. It is unforgivable. It is ghastly. It is 2017 and it is something Twitch should be absolutely ashamed to enable."


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Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.