Global Top Round
2019 Global Top Round accelerator opens call for applications
Applications are open from May 20th to July 5th
Event
Mintegral, JoyPac, Ubisoft and Outfit7 to speak at London mini-summit
Join us next week for a free evening of networking and expert speakers explaining mobile games market opportunities in the East
M&a
Tencent acquires Malmo developer Sharkmob
“We view the future of online gaming the same way and Tencent being a leading internet and games platform gives Sharkmob the reach and resources to be a part of that future"
Brazil Tops List
Battle royale Garena Free Fire generated $90 million in Q1 2019
73 million new players have downloaded the battle royale title
Drastic Measures
Report: Nippon Ichi Software unable to pay staff following Disgaea RPG technical issues
Firm looking to sell off stock shares at low price
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Game for Peace the second top grosser in China behind Honor of Kings
Rankings from May 6th to May 12th 2019
Job News
Marvelous CEO Haruki Nakayama resigns due to poor health
Shuichi Motoda shall succeed
Super
Publisher NetEase is bringing new original Marvel content to China and beyond
The two firms will create original games, television and comic books with Marvel IP
Pokemon Quest
NetEase to launch first Pokemon mobile game in China
Game Freak and The Pokemon Company onboard
Communication Error
Report: PlayStation team didn't know about Sony-Microsoft cloud technology deal
And there's numerous reasons why
Us Versus China
Google restricts Huawei Android access
News comes as Huawei is added to the US 'entity list' which bars business dealings with companies without government approval
Monster Declines
Mixi eyes casual players for Monster Strike revival as game surpasses 50m installs
FY2020 profits forecast to drop by 88.6 per cent
Game Of Thrones
Can the Game of Thrones games survive without the hit TV show?
Game of Thrones' watch has ended, but how did the final season impact the performance of games based off the licence?
East Meets West
East Meets West: Sony and Microsoft team up on cloud gaming, Rockstar buys Dhruva, and Indonesia is world's fastest-growing market
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Report
Keep an eye open for Indonesia, the fastest-growing nation in Adjust’s Global App Trends 2019 report
Mid-core games are also on the rise in the measurement organisation's latest overview of global trends
Finance
Weak mobile and browser game performance led to a poor 2019 financial year for Square Enix
Solid releases couldn't sway the tide against slower-than-expected mobile and MMO performance
Event
Blockchain Cuties, Mythical Games and Refereum to speak at the first Blockchain Gamer Connects Hong Kong
First speakers revealed for two-day industry conference this July
10 Years Of Minecraft
Minecraft was the only top 250 grossing premium mobile game in 2018, showing it’s still going strong 10 years later
A look at the history and continued success of the blockbuster game
Portability
Nintendo Switch overtakes PlayStation 4 lifetime sales in Japan
Sony still dominates heavily in worldwide sales though
Games To Fund
Games2Win launches Replay games funding initiative for Indian developers
Mentoring, developing, advice and marketing
Winner Winner
Battle royale games have surpassed $2 billion on mobile
NetEase’s Knives Out leads the way
Big Deal
Microsoft and Sony set aside rivalry to team up on cloud gaming
PlayStation maker to use Azure data centres for cloud gaming; will also work with Microsoft on new developments
Financials
Japan success helps propel NetEase sales to $2.7 billion in Q1 2019
Chinese publishing giant also knocking it out the park at home
Financials
Tencent hopes Season Passes will help revitalise games growth after decline
Publisher is now clear of China's licensing freeze
Mobile Future
NCSoft wants more from its legacy RPG franchises on mobile as sales decline
Mobile still makes up more than half of the company's sales
Faster
Bidalgo’s new Accelerator program wants to help small to mid-sized app developers scale up
Bidalgo aims to put smaller studios on a level playing field when it comes to user acquisition efforts
What A Rush
Pokemon Rumble Rush revealed for iOS and Android
Evolution of 2017 Pokeland title that was in the works
Event
How to get into Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong - free!
Four different ways for you to get involved with the leading B2B event for the mobile, blockchain and PC games industry this July without spending a buck
Market Data
More than half of the world’s mobile gamers are based in Asia
Newzoo's head of analytics Jelle Kooistra delves into how markets around the world still have room to grow
New Update
PUBG Mobile adds new gameplay management tool to help promote “healthy gaming”
Aimed at young users under the age of 18
That’s A Twist
Detective Pikachu captures biggest weekend opening ever in US for a video game film adaptation
$58 million made from American Pokemon Trainers
Korea Stars
Brawl Stars takes $50 million in South Korea
Total global sales to date reach an estimated $230m
Season 2
Supercell partners with South Korean TV network OGN for Clash Royale League
Handling production in the West and Asia
Investor Meeting
Nintendo and Tencent not expected to bring Switch to China before March 2020
Not included in the company’s sales targets for 2019
Acquisition News
Rockstar acquires Indian developer Dhruva Interactive for $7.9m
Starbreeze sells majority stake in studio for $600k less than it paid
New Opportunities
SK Telecom partners with Microsoft on 5G, AI and cloud technologies
SK Telecom will adopt Microsoft 365 secure solution
Peace
Tencent’s "peaceful" PUBG clone Game for Peace earned over $14 million in three days
Game for Peace is already outperforming PUBG Mobile internationally
Weekly Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Clash of Clans the US top grosser again, but it can't beat Coin Master in the UK
Rankings from April 29th to May 5th 2019
Vote
Australia's Labor party courts devs with pledge to reinstate the Interactive Games Fund
$25 million fund will be reinstated pending the results of elections this Saturday
East Meets West
East Meets West: China mobile games revenue to surpass $25bn, Chinese loot box rules, and DeNA-Pokemon Company partnership
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Legendary
Apex Legends is pinging a mobile port
EA’s Q4 results suggest Respawn’s battle royale is heading to smartphones and China
Financials
DeNA games sales and profits fall in FY2018
Company hopeful Mario Kart Tour can do the business in 2019
Financial
MapleStory and Dungeon & Fighter shatter expectations to drive Nexon’s Q1 2019 results
Nexon predicts further growth as it heads into the next quarter
I Choose You
The Pokemon Company partners with DeNA for new mobile game
Game is due to arrive before the end of March 2020
Trade Dispute
US China trade war escalates as Trump raises tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products
Further duties of $325 billion worth of Chinese goods also threatened, which has the potential to affect tech companies like Apple
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Roblox the top grosser on US App Store
Charts from April 22nd to 28th
Live And Kicking
Four years on: Netmarble on how Marvel Future Fight has continued to assemble fans
"In order to compete with other games, the title should be as fun as if it only came out yesterday"
Event
Quick! This is your last chance to save up to $450 on Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong tickets
Super Early Bird offer for July’s two day B2B conference ends TONIGHT
Loss
South Korea economy could lose over $9 billion once the WHO names gaming addiction a disease
Stigmatising gaming addicts could cost the industry trillions of KRW
Game For Peace?
Tencent shuts down PUBG Mobile in China
Replaces with new, similar battle royale title Game for Peace that has received government approval