Soulful
Netmarble’s Blade and Soul Revolution tops iOS grossing charts in South Korea one day after launch
The MMORPG will launch globally in 2019
Staff
Iain Harris
About Iain is a freelance writer based in Scotland with a penchant for indies and all things Nintendo. Alongside PocketGamer.Biz, he has also appeared in Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamesN and VG24/7.
Articles by Iain Harris
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Hatched
Hatch set to bring games streaming service to Android TV as part of premium membership scheme
Premium scheme pencilled in for a Q1 2019 launch
Funded
Analytics platform AppOnboard eyes up London and Seoul offices following $30m funding drive
Los Angeles-based company claim $15m will come in off the bat from Breakaway Growth
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Kabam’s Marvel Contest of Champions enjoys Western surge in player spending
This week's charts cover the period from November 26th to December 2nd
Hot Five
Playtika snaps up Wooga, who is buying Zynga, and Jam City layoffs
The past weeks hottest articles
Zoned
MZ picks up Wells Fargo exec for chief financial officer role
Has experience with IPOs and M&A activity
Winner Winner
Mountains takes home Best Mobile Game prize from The Game Awards 2018
Matt Makes Games’ Celeste also took home prizes for Best Indie Game and Games for Impact Award
Indie Mavens
Where do indies and innovative ideas fit in the current mobile games market?
Our indie Mavens weigh in
Jobs In Games
From RuneScape to Love Island: Fusebox's Sarah Longthorne on how to land a job as a narrative designer
"Writing in a group opens you up to constructive criticism, which is kind of like a ‘frenemy’ for most writers. It hurts, but it’s good for you."
Epic
Sensor Tower: Epic Games’ Fortnite makes $1.2m a day for November on iOS alone
The battle royale has now made $385 million from iOS
Indie Spotlight
How Super Entertainment's Spin Rhythm is designed to combine flow with flare
“Spin Rhythm makes use of all the available inputs and gestures of a touch screen to make players feel like they are inside the music, almost composing as they play like some interdimensional DJ”
Solid
Roblox builds up revenues of $25m for October
The revenue haul represents a 67 per cent increase year-on-year
Lost And Found
Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost hatches over $50m in just over two months
The RPG is still only available in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau
Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Ironhides’ Kingdom Rush Vengeance off to strong start in UK, US and China
Covers the period from November 19th to 25th.
Nice
Soomla snags $2.6m in funding to boost mobile monetization measurement platform
The funding was led by JAL Ventures with further investment from existing partners
Winner Winner
Tencent’s PUBG Mobile crowned best game of the year on Android by Google
King’s Candy Crush Friends Saga and Team Alto’s Odyssey also given nods
Indie Delight
Donut County and Gorogoa named iPhone and iPad game of the year by Apple
Alto’s Odyssey and battle royale games also given the nod
Charts
Weekly global mobile game charts: Tencent’s Naruto Online makes a splash in the East
Charts for the week of November 12th
Hard Turn
Nintendo shoots down Elon Musk's request to license Mario Kart to Tesla’s range of electric cars
The Tesla CEO seems open to the possibility of adding PC games marketplace Steam though
Stocked
Mobvista hopes to snag $173.9m from IPO to boost mobile advertising and analytics platform
The Hong Kong-based company also intends
Masterclass
“Games are for everyone:” Space Ape on breaking misconceptions and helping people find their way into the industry
“Our studio is overflowing with knowledge, I think it would be selfish not to share it”
Joining The Flock
Angry Birds creator Rovio snaps up Finnish dev PlayRaven
Rovio claims the move will help them strengthen their presence in strategy games
Woah
British consumers to rack up $1.2 billion in spending on mobile games this year
The figure is set to rise to $2 billion in 2023
Jamming
Jam City wraps up Bingo Pop IP acquisition with new Toronto Studio
The Bingo Pop team will join Jam City as part of the move
Speak Up
Tencent, Zynga and Natural Motion set to speak at India Games Developer Conference 2018
Activision, Ubisoft and Avalanche Studios also to feature
Caught
Nintendo catches $250m from the US between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday
Total US hardware sales for the period jumped up 45 per cent over the same period in 2017
Hammered
Games Workshop taps up Tilting Point and Hunted Cow for Warhammer: Chaos and Conquest
The fantasy strategy game is currently in Beta in the Philippines and could be globally launched next year
Indie Spotlight
Alex Johansson on combining vertical platformer and shooter inspirations in Shump and diversifying income
"Other areas gave me those extra streams of income to sustain development when getting started and also serve as a breath of fresh air from the apps I was working on daily"
Wales
Wales Region Focus: “We've got a way to go but we're already punching above our weight”
Toxic Games' Dan De Rocha, Wales Interactive’s David Banner MBE and Richard Pring, Talespinners' Ian Thomas and Quantum Soup’s Chris Payne weigh in
Black Friday
From Unity assets to Udemy courses: some of the best Black Friday deals for games developers
Deals also involve discounts on GameMaker Studio 2 and RPG Maker MV
Game On
Discord experiments with games detection on Android
The feature shows others what a user is playing or listening to on Spotify
All Go
Blizzard reportedly working on a Pokemon Go-styled World of Warcraft spin-off for mobile
The game reportedly has single-player mechanics
Gone
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee shifts three million copies on Nintendo Switch in first week
The haul is the highest first-week sales figure for a Switch title
Tough Times
“It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times": IGDA exec Jen MacLean on being a games developer in 2018
"We also know that the games industry is cyclical, and I suspect that some of the things that we see with studio closures are only the beginning"
Vroom
NaturalMotion’s CSR Racing 2 speeds past 73 million installs
The drag racing title has also hit the top spot for grossing in over 120 countries
Job Klaxon
Animoca Brands brings in former Mozilla exec to head up strategic partnerships
As part of his role Gen Kanai will help to advance the company’s blockchain strategy
A Magneton Of Bad Reviews
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee struck by review-bombing for deviating from main-series formula
Amazon Japan appears to have purged its review section in response
Charted
Weekly global mobile game charts: Pokemon Go enjoys grossing spike in the West following Pokemon Let's Go launch
The charts from November 5th to 11th
Sweet
Candy Crush games have made King a sweet $1.3 billion in 2018 so far
$128m of that came in October
Decked Out
Indie Spotlight: Stefan Åhlin on leaving King and creating a roguelike deck-builder
"The single biggest challenge has been to simply finish such a big game"
Resurrected
Development on Telltale’s The Walking Dead starts up again
Former developers to return to complete the project
Jobs In Games
From Crackdown to mobile: Outplay's Phil Wilson on how to snag a job as vice president of operations
"We have successful games that are several years old and we’re continuing to build our portfolio. That excites me more than any triple-A pre-launch hype ever could"
Not Quite Noble
Tencent’s Arena of Valor takes $5m from the US as year anniversary approaches
The Chinese version, Honor of Kings, has made $3.7 billion in comparison since late-2015
Falling Into Place
Changyou snags licence to bring Tetris mobile games to China
Its first effort, Tetris Journey, is set to land next year on Android and iOS
Joining The Flock
New dev strategy for Angry Birds developer Rovio as it gets to work on 12 new games
Targeting at least two releases next year
Super
Supercell's Brawl Stars rumbles up over five million pre-registrations in one day
Players were promised a skin should 2m installs be cleared
Keys To The Kingdom
“We can’t wait to bring Disney stories and characters to life on mobile”: Jam City on its big new partnership
We caught up with Jam City president and COO Josh Yguado following yesterday’s partnership reveal
Lukewarm
Tencent’s mobile revenues remain steady in Q3 despite China’s freeze on games licenses
Mobile revenues grew seven per cent year-on-year to $2.8 billion
Super
Supercell’s Brawl Stars pulls in $6.5m from soft launch ahead of global launch
The arena shooter is set to go global next month
Is That Safe?
Voice-based games developer Drivetime raises $4m in funds to make games for drivers
Funding includes Zynga co-founders Mark Pincus, Eric Schiermeyer and Justin Waldron along with Applovin founder Adam Foroughi