With the Samsung Developer Conference 2014 in full swing, you won't be surprised to find that some of this week's big hitters come from San Francisco.
PocketGamer.biz events editor, George Osborn, was our man on the ground, and, like a news seeking missile, he didn't miss a beat as Samsung looked to make a splash in the world of wearables.
Indeed, the mobile manufacturer made its focus on wearables abundantly clear by announcing Project Beyond - a new 360 degree camera technology that it says will help developers to transport VR users across the world - alongside the Gear S and Simband, which allow consumers to choose between a general smartwatch experience and a health-focused device.
Outside of Samsung's conference bubble, the rest of the world carried on spinning. Sega and Gumi joined forces to release Chain Chronicle in the west, Peter Molyneux opened up about the challenges of free-to-play, and our Indie Mavens weighed in on South Park's recent depiction of feemium gaming.
As always, there's more where that came from, so, grab a mug of joe, and ready yourself for another Week That Was.
Industry voices
- MyGamez revealed why full localisation wasn't key to Hill Climb Racing's success in China.
- We asked, and our Indie Mavens answered: Is South Park's criticism of F2P games valid?
- Handy Games explained why it's backing smartwatch gaming instead of VR.
- Zynga's Clive Downie was the latest industry pioneer to join our Hall of Fame.
- We found out more about hóPLAY and the rebirth of videogame development in the Basque Country.
- Our Finnsider says that while Finland isn't immune from #GameGamer, the debate hasn't been so heated in the more gender equal society.
- PG Connects London 2015 speaker Mike Bithell talked about finding success from aesthetic polish not the exploitative parts of the F2P business.
- PixelBerry's Oliver Miao spoke about the company's approach to UA during the launch of High School Story.
User acquisition, retention, and discovery
- Sega and Gumi joined forces to release Chain Chronicle in the west.
- GameRefinery lifted the lid on its Game Power Score tool, which aims to improve your game's commercial potential.
- Amsterdam-based developer Lunagames hit 5 million downloads on Windows Phone.
- TapSense awards $10,000 ad spend to winning team for its 2014 Hacker Bus hackathon.
Tools & Platforms
- Samsung announced the Gear S and Simband at SDC 2014.
- Samsung also announced Project Beyond: a new 360 degree camera technology that it says will help developers to transport VR users across the world.
- Sixense STEM adds full motion tracking to Samsung Gear VR.
- Imagination GPUs look setp to provide a graphics boost for wearable tech.
- DeltaDNA launched a non-commercial license for universities and colleges.
Monetisation
- Candy Crush continued its sweet success in our exclusive look at the UK App Store charts.
- F2P monetisation is extremely challenging that's why mobile devs need to learn about community, said Peter Molyneux.
- PlayPhone's Anders Evju spoke about the importance of viral tokens and social hooks.
- Jon got angry about Kabam's 'full power for boss battle' mechanic in The Hunger Games: Panem Rising.
Funding, acquisitions, personnel and shuttering
- LINE and Tencent invested $110 million in Korean startup 4:33 Creative Lab.
- Intel led a $9 million funding round for VR Kickstarter success, Avegant.
- Game accelerator and investment platform Execution Labs announced plans to step up its support for independent developers following a $6 million Series A funding round.
- Nextgen 'publisher'/service provider Scopely raised $35 million.