Week that was

Indies fall out of love with iOS, Nokia losses leave Microsoft in limbo, and we look at life for devs in London

The past 7 days in bite-sized portions

Indies fall out of love with iOS, Nokia losses leave Microsoft in limbo, and we look at life for devs in London

Just when you think the games industry couldn't get more interesting, another truckload of news comes along and blows that theory right out of the water. 

This week free-to-pay gaming was once again the talk of the town, with some suggesting that the negative attidute towards the model is forcing developers away from mobile, while Apple was forced to defend its free-to-play regulatiions in an attempt to escape scorn from the European Commission. 

Although some of you might find it hard to believe, mobile gaming actually does have a life outside of free-to-play: a point eloquently highlighted by ustwo's Monument Valley, which recently breached the 1 million download barrier. 

New beginnings, millions on the move, and age old advice: there's always something going on in the industry that never sits still, and unless you want to get left behind it's probably time for you to tuck into our Week That Was. 

Industry Voices

  • Sega veteran Jill Braff explained that while marketing might have its uses, you can't go anywhere without a quality product
  • Oceanhorn developer Heikki Repo revealed that the game's success was a result of "clear focus". 
  • UK investment, for better or worse, is centred around London said former AppyNation man, Andrew Smith. 
  • We caught up with CMA Megacorp's Andrew Lim to find out more about the creation of the dev's unique puzzler, Kiwanuka
  • Strike Gamelabs co-founder Ella Romanos offered her thoughts on taking the plunge and leaving work-for-hire to forge her own future.  
  • What are the 8 pieces of decades old advertising advice that still hold up today? David Ogilvy, with a little help from our editor at large Jon Jordan, revealed all

Monetisation

User acquisition, retention, and discovery

  • Minecraft continued to dominate the UK App Store charts as Fit the Fat's reign came to an end. 
  • Another Big Indie Pitch winner made the most of its moment in the spotlight at this year's Casual Connect. 
  • Mobile UA boosted Facebook's Q2 FY15 revenue by 61 percent
  • EA Mobile saw its Q1 FY15 revenue jump up by 9 percent to $123 million
  • Monument Valley proved that premium is well and truly alive by bringing in over 1 million downloads

Tools & Platforms

  • Videos recorded by gamers playing titles with Kamcord's video sharing software now make up 1 percent of YouTube's upload volume. 
  • Apple explained that its F2P controls already outshine those of its rivals. 
  • iPhone sales soared past 35 million in the latest quarter, however, iPad sales continue to pose a problem. 

Funding, acquisitions, personnel and shutterings


What do you call someone who has an unhealthy obsession with video games and Sean Bean? That'd be a 'Chris Kerr'. Chris is one of those deluded souls who actually believes that one day Sean Bean will survive a movie. Poor guy.