Hot Five
Facebook pulls Instant Games from Messenger, Zynga taps classic major IP and whatever happened to Wizards Unite?
The hottest stories from the mobile games industry over the last week
Toys Means Toys
Bandai Namco’s new Tori platform merges physical toys with mobile gaming
Use of physical objects will control the virtual world
Licensing Deal
Animoca Brands’ Pixowl is making an Addams Family mobile game
Mystery Mansion will be based on the upcoming animated film
Flying High
Thatgamecompany’s Sky soars past one million downloads
Title estimated to have generated $175,000
Switch China
Tencent and Nintendo to host joint Switch press conference in China
Press event will take place in Shanghai on August 2nd
Hyper-casual In China
Google, Voodoo, JoyPac and more to speak at hyper-casual games summit in Shanghai on August 1st
Google, Voodoo, JoyPac, App Annie and Tenjin to speak at seminar
New Studio
NetEase opens Montreal studio
CEO says city offers “clear advantages and favourable conditions” for international games companies
Pocket Gamer Connects
First Pocket Gamer and Blockchain Gamer Connects Hong Kong wows the crowds of more than 750 delegates from 45 countries
390 companies joined the event in total
Subscription Service
Tencent invests in retro games streaming platform Antstream Arcade
Terms of Series A funding round were undisclosed
I Choose You
The Pokemon Company partners with Tencent on new games
PUBG: Full Ahead studio Timi will develop a new title
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle strikes up US top grossing spot
Rankings from July 8th to 14th
Deja Moo
Zynga taps classic major IP for newly soft-launched FarmVille 3 - Animals
Farming simulator has made its way to Android in the Philippines and Thailand
Regulatory Brawl
Supercell pulls games out of Vietnam in face of regulations
Likes of Clash of Clans, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars no longer playable in the country
East Meets West
East Meets West: WeGame mobile streaming, NetEase acquires minority stake in Behaviour, and why Tencent is helping publish Drodo Auto Chess
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Medically Sound
Dr. Mario World encapsulates five million downloads in first week
Half a million dollars generated from player spending
Moving Location
Zynga India moves to new studio in Bangalore
Developer currently hiring for multiple roles
Douyu Ipo
Chinese live-streaming platform DouYu launches $775 million IPO
The IPO was announced back in April but was halted a week later
Kyoto Drift
Nintendo Switch owners are suffering Joy-Con drift issues
This follows Joy-Con desyncing fault near consoles launch
Auto Success?
Why Dragonest partnered up with Tencent to publish Drodo Auto Chess in China
"A good product needs to be known by as many people as possible"
Switching Up
Nintendo unveils new Switch model with longer battery life
Offers up to nine hours of portable play
$$$
Detective Pikachu becomes highest grossing video game film
Warcraft drops from top spot after the Pokemon movie generates $436m at the box office
Join Us
Come and meet China's top publishing companies at our free mini-summit in Cologne
Get important insights from the people on the ground at our event on Tuesday, August 20th
Ongoing Partnership
Snap and Baidu renew sales partnership to continue reach in Asia
“Our partnership with Snap Inc. provides Chinese companies new avenues to expand their businesses through Snapchat advertising”
Investment Round
Indian ed-tech firm Byju's raises $150m
Funding is said to value the company at around $5.5 billion
Fighting Poverty
China looks to mobile game in bid to eradicate poverty
Title lets users sell in-game goods to earn discount credits on real food
Linked In
Tencent launches Steam Link-like mobile streaming app for WeGame
Users can stream PC games to their smartphones over Wi-Fi
Global Advertising
The top global game advertisers in the US, Japan and South Korea for June 2019
SocialPeta data shows which games are generating the highest number of ad impressions
Strategic Investment
NetEase acquires minority stake Fallout Shelter dev Behaviour
Influence of Chinese companies increases at Canadian firm following last year's deal with GAEA
Nfts
PGC Hong Kong: WAX strategic advisor Malcolm Caselle to host talk on the purpose of digital goods and NFTs
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Honor of Kings is only the third top grosser in China as it faces a new challenger
Rankings from July 1st to July 7th
Medical Bills
Dr. Mario World prescribes two million downloads in 72 hours
Game generates a disappointing $100,000 in revenue from player spending
Event
Special thank you to the sponsors for this week’s Blockchain Gamer and Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong
The companies supporting the B2B games industry event’s first outing to the East
East Meets West
East Meets West: Nexon no longer for sale, Tencent negotiates better revenue share, and Chinese companies eye new age-rating system
Keeping up with the news from the world's most influential games market
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Harry Potter remains stationary as Pokemon Go makes a comeback
Rankings from June 24th to June 30th
Pg Connects
PGC Hong Kong: Dark Horse Digital director Jason Frazer on how to apply knowledge from one field to another successfully
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Osaki
Monolith Soft opens second studio in Japan
New location is a result of increased profits from the previous year
Hyper-casual Rise
11.2 billion mobile games were downloaded in Q2 2019 reports App Annie
PUBG Mobile claims highest average MAU
Season Pass
Clash of Clans had its best revenue month for two years in June
Player spending up 26 per cent as a result of season pass subscription
Pgc Hong Kong
Editor's Picks: 5 top sessions at Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong on July 17th and 18th
Gain key insights into the Asia markets at our first-ever Hong Kong conference
For Sale?
China's Shanghai Fukong hasn't sold Jagex just yet
Reported sale was just one option that was being explored by the Chinese entertainment giant
Dead Serious
Motion Twin, Playdigious and Bilibili team for Dead Cells mobile port in China
Game is due for release on Western mobile devices in August
Market Trends
PGC Hong Kong: Kunlun Korea GM Sean Lim on mobile market trends
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
No Go On Pro
Nintendo’s Doug Bowser says Switch Lite won’t kill off 3DS support
No Switch Pro will be released this year too
Blockchain
PGC Hong Kong: Liquefy CEO Adrian Lai on the importance of tokenisation in esports
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Rip 3ds
Nintendo Switch Lite launches this September
Pricing, release date and specs revealed
Imga China
Don’t miss the 2019 IMGA China Launch Seminar in Shanghai this August
It's great for networking, and our readers get 30% off the price of tickets
Event
Find out what awaits you at the first ever Pocket Gamer Connects MENA
Two-day games industry expo features 8 conference tracks, Big Indie Pitch, Investor Connector and more.
Live Ops
PGC Hong Kong: Touchten Games CEO Rokimas Soeharyo on growing live ops
Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019 will take place on July 17th to 18th
Event
Everything you need to know about Pocket Gamer Connects Hong Kong 2019
Essential info for those attending our two-day B2B games industry conference next week
No Sale
Update: South Korea's Nexon no longer up for sale following lack of buyers
CEO Jungju Kim apparently wasn't impressed by the list of companies who stepped forward