This Week In China
This Week in China: Apple finally complies with new ISBN rules and Tencent rolls out its latest Juvenile Protection System
The biggest stories straight from Beijing
Join The Team
Game Freak is looking to increase its headcount by 16%
Artists, designers and programmers
On Target
Konami's eFootball PES 2020 shoots through 300 million downloads
Developer launches in-game rewards to celebrate
Follow The Rules
Apple to reject any games without an ISBN in China from July 2020
Rumoured crackdown now looks set in stone
Have A Brawl
Supercell's Brawl Stars shoots through $17.5 million revenue in China
It launched in China on June 9th
Let's Go Brush Teeth
Pokémon Smile, Pokémon Café Mix and Pokémon Snap sequel debut in digital event
Set to follow up with another presentation next week
Western Launch Incoming?
Update: Bethesda and Gaea Mobile launch Fallout Shelter Online in Asia
Available to download in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and more
Heading To China
Evoland developer Shiro Games teams up with Tencent Cloud for technical solutions when launching in China
11 per cent of Northgard's playerbase are Chinese
The Precious
NetEase teams up with Warner Bros for The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War
A mobile strategy game set in J.R.R Tolkien's fantasy world
Game On!
PUBG Mobile announces $850,000 esports competition known as Season Zero
40 teams to compete for a share of the prize money
This Week In China
This Week in China: Brawl Stars takes China by storm and Tencent gears up for its Spark More conference
The biggest stories straight from Beijing
Penalty!
FIFA Mobile scored 1.2 million downloads a day after launching in South Korea
Nexon signed an agreement with EA to launch the game
Tales Of Memo
Indie Spotlight: How a school maths assignment inspired Tales of Memo
"The game originated from a conversation I had with my daughter"
Money Money Money
Report: NetEase raises $2.7bn in Hong Kong IPO
Trading started today
Cybersecurity
Nintendo claims that a further 140,000 accounts may have been breached earlier this year
160,000 accounts were hacked in March
Heading To China
Supercell's Brawl Stars officially launches in China
"China could potentially be a huge market for the game"
Pgc Digital
PGC Digital: "I believe as an industry we’ve become too data-driven," says Boomzap Entertainment co-founder
Christopher Natsuume was part of a panel discussing 'Workflow Tricks for Growing Teams'
Last Week In China
Last Week in China: Bilibili plans to launch a satellite and One Punch Man takes the Taiwanese mobile market by storm
The biggest stories straight out of Beijing
China Regulations
Will China’s new regulations push game publishers towards other emerging markets?
Nativex general manager Tiffany Ou looks at what's to come
To The Future
NetEase sets up a new studio in Tokyo to focus on next-generation games
The studio is hiring PC, console and mobile specialist
Going Retro
Sega continues mini console trend with upcoming Game Gear Micro
Comes to Japan on October 6th
Esports In Africa
Esports Federation president Emmanuel Oyelaki on the growth of games in Africa
"Esports has gained a lot of prominence and governments are officially recognising it as a sport"
Missingno
What happened to Pokémon Sleep?
One year on and we still are none the wiser as to what the iOS and Android game is
Making Money
NetEase launches a secondary stock exchange listing in Hong Kong
It aims to raise between $2 billion and $3 billion
This Week In China
This Week In China: Game for Peace cracks down on cheaters as the police crack down on in-game gambling
The biggest stories direct from Beijing
Expansion
Square Enix branches out into "entertainment AI" with forming of new company
Square Enix AI and Arts Alchmey Co. will spearhead research and development
End Of Battle
Terra Battle developer "heartbroken" to end service six years after launch
RPG from Final Fantasy creator will shut on June 30th, 2020
Full Throttle
KartRider Rush+ zooms to 10 million global downloads in two weeks
3.57 million daily active users
Splash The Cash
Tencent is investing $70 billion into tech infrastructures
Including cloud computing and cybersecurity
Stood Up
Konami's LovePlus Every to shut down 10 months after launch
Dating simulator will cease operations on August 5th, 2020
Pride
Netmarble sales up 11.6% as Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross starts strong
"We are anticipating significant growth in sales and profitability in our second quarter"
Splashing Cash
Tencent acquires 20% stake in Japanese games firm Marvelous
"In comparison to Western companies, there is a widening abyss in terms of development capability and financial clout"
Indie View
The Big Indie Interviews: Willem Delventhal on making award winning games for cats
What does it take to make a game that's fun for both humans and cats?
This Week In China
This Week In China: NetEase's big reveals from its 520 conference and Chess Rush lands in China
The biggest stories straight from Beijing
Digital Showcase
Japanese developers and publishers join together for New Game+ Expo on June 23rd
Sega, SNK, Koei Tecmo, Spike Chunsoft, and more are due to take part
China Covid-19 Growth
China’s mobile game revenue reaches $7.7 billion during COVID-19
Yodo1 digs into the data
Mygamez Funding
MyGamez partners with Small Giant Games on Empires & Puzzles' Chinese Android launch
Fingersoft, Small Giant Games, Peter Vesterbacka, and more contribute to new funding round
No Direct
Report: Nintendo is not holding a Direct for the foreseeable future
Will surprise-drop new trailers instead
Valhalla!
NetEase unveils Norse mythology-inspired mobile AAA game Project Ragnarok
Going cross-platform on mobile, PC, and console
Netease Financials
NetEase's mobile games catalogue pushes revenue to $2.4 billion
Mobile represented 70.3 per cent of all online games
Pandemic Delay
Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road faces delay due to the coronavirus
Square Enix still wants a spring release
New Studio
Kwalee to open its first international studio in India
Located in Bangalore
Where's The Fire?
Garena's Free Fire records 80 million daily active users
Its previous record was 60 million in March 2020
This Week In China
This Week In China: ChinaJoy 2020 goes ahead and FriendTimes Inc. changes its name
The biggest stories direct from Beijing
China Hit Worst
Nexon's revenue and profit falls year-on-year in Q1 due to Covid-19 pandemic
"Nexon has been spared the turbulence due to minimal physical contact with consumers"
Strong All Around
Sega profits rocket by 421%, video games up 50% too
"Strong competitive mobile enviroment"
Square Enix Financials
Dragon Quest Walk and Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe help lift Square Enix mobile revenues to almost $1 billion
Profits rise by 9.38% overall
Tencent Financials
Tencent sees a 26 per cent revenue increase year-on-year in Q1 2020
Mobile games generated ¥34.8 billion ($4.9 billion)
Hard To Bell-ieve
Animal Crossing: New Horizons shifts nearly 4 million units in Japan
Best-selling Nintendo Switch game in the country yet
Winner Winner
App Annie: PUBG Mobile generates largest consumer spend overseas for China-based developers in Q1 2020
Rise of Kingdoms from Lilith follows in second