Amazon's Twitch deal pondered, gaming for wearables, and rethinking UA
Unless you've been living under a rock you'll know that the biggest news of the week was Amazon's $970 million acquisition of Twitch.
However, even though Amazon's deal, quite rightly, stole the show, the rest of the industty has been doing its best to grab our attention.
HandyGames' CEO Christopher Kassulke and Funky Whale CEO Antonio Rabanera both revealed how they plan to break into the world of wearables, while Glu Mobile completed its miraculous U-turn by ending July as the world's biggest mobile publisher.
Followings its purchase, Twitch also announced that Gameloft's Heroes of Order & Chaos will become the first mobile MOBA to feature its integration.
Of course, that's merely the tip of the iceberg, so go and make yourself comfortable while we prepare another mind-altering dose of Week That Was.
Industry Voices
- RedLynx duo Justin Swan and Kari Silvennoinen explained why free-to-play was their only option.
- TIGA announced that Miniclip, Matmi and Bossa will speak at its Tablet Games conference.
- We found out how AppSealing protects your Android games from hacking.
- Funky Whale CEO Antonio Rabanera spoke to us about making games for the potential 21 million smartglass market.
- Christopher Kassulke, CEO at HandyGames, revealed why he's looking to take a leading role in the world of wearables.
- There were 5 things we learned at Unite 2014.
- Game Insight's new CEO on going 3D and hardcore while becoming more player-centric.
Monetisation
- KongZhong's mobile sales boomed in FY14 Q2, rising by 30 percent to $10.5 million.
- On the back of its Japanese app success, Disney sold 1.6 million Tsum Tsum plushies.
- Glu Mobile ended July 2014 as the world's biggest mobile publisher on iOS in terms of downloads.
- Chinese social media platform Renren saw FY14 Q2 game revenue fall by 27 percent to $15 million.
- We found out why Godus found followers in Europe but apostasy in the US.
User acquisition, retention, and discovery
- Heads Up! beat Minecraft as Ketchapp dominated the free charts in last week's exclusive look at the UK App Store Charts.
- Research outfut Juniper predicted that worldwide tablet gaming revenue will reach $13.3 billion by 2019.
- Fisku reckoned the cost of loyal users and installs rose to its second highest level ever in July.
- Brand video ad network HyprMX asked, Why are you advertising your rivals' games?
- We considered How Voxel's interactive adverts are reinventing UA's core loop.
Tools & Platforms
- Streaming platform Twitch announced that Gameloft's Heroes of Order & Chaos will be the first mobile MOBA to feature its integration.
- Monetisation company TinyLoot revealed it intends to turn free-to-play on its head by paying consumers to play.
- Toyze partnered with Pou to enable 3D-printed personalised pets.
Funding, acquisitions, personnel and shutterings
- German developer Flaregames signed Fuzzycube's Epic Loot.
- Amazon made waves by acquiring Twitch for a staggering $970 million.
- Qihoo 360 signed up Goodgames' Empire: Four Kingdom for China.