Acquisition Battle
Nexon shortlists five bidders including Kakao and Tencent
Formal bidding process starts in early April
How Many Rupees
Nintendo stats and salary revealed for Japan employees
Tom Nook thankfully not part of the accounting team
Locked Down
Tencent applies digital lock restriction for young Chinese players that requires parental consent to play games
Guardians need to unlock games for kids under the age of 12
Heart Of The Cards
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links summons more than 90 million downloads worldwide
Commemorative in-game campaign held to celebrate milestone
Interview
MapleStory M director on the challenges of bringing a 15-year-old MMORPG to mobile
Nexon's mobile MMO helped drive the Japanese publisher to one of its strongest years yet
Surprise Surprise!
Tencent and Intel partner for Instant Play streaming service
Details are scarce, but we'll likely know more at GDC
Reignited
Com2us launches Skylanders Ring of Heroes worldwide
Available in 120 countries
Tech For Change
Alibaba’s Tech for Change initiative aims to tackle global social and humanitarian challenges
A collaboration with iamtheCODE aims to support one million women coders by 2030
Bidding Battle
Report: EA, Amazon and Comcast all submit acquisition bids for publisher Nexon
New challengers join a growing collection of suitors
Sword And Shield
Pokemon Sword and Shield coming to Nintendo Switch in 2019
Launching worldwide later this year
Stretch Those Shoulders
OliveX raises $1 million to turn getting fit into a game
Funding comes from the likes of Alabaster and Antanas Guoga
Fold Wars
Huawei’s Mate X is a competitive foldable phone to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold
Huawei keen to compete with South-Korean rivals
China
Tencent and NetEase see non-China mobile game revenue soar 500%
China's biggest publishers look abroad as the nation's market remains unpredictable
Playable Demos
Delving under the hood of Synative's Try Now demo tech as it partners with Google Play
Synative gives us the lowdown
Dragalia Won
Dragalia Lost outpaces Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp with $75m lifetime sales
Still a way off of Fire Emblem Heroes
Global Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Matchington Mansion a new US top 10 grosser as Fortnite and Dokkan Battle dominate
Charts from February 11th to 17th
Interview
How hard is it to bring a PC hit like Human: Fall Flat to smartphones anyway?
We speak to 505 Games’ Steve Woodward and Thomas Rosenthal to find out more about the wobbly platformer’s port
East Meets West
12 videos from Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019's East Meets West track
Track sponsored by JoyPac
Fiscal
Netease ends 2018 on strong footing with almost $3 billion in Q4 revenue
Lifetime successes and strong newcomers drive Netease to a job well done this year
Super Smash Brawl Stars
Brawl Stars becomes first new mobile game to break into top 10 worldwide revenue chart since June 2018
Fighter has generated $110 million in two months
Job Losses
Huge layoffs strike staff at Australian studio EA Firemonkeys
As many as 50 staff could be affected
International
Chinese publisher East2West opens its USA branch in San Francisco
"Our current lineup, which will be announced shortly, is already impressive"
Tencent Rules
Tencent brings in new broadcasting rules to police hurtful content across its products
These updates prohibit discussions or behaviour that could cause offence to the company’s home market of China
Job Losses
Razer lays off 30 staff as mobile future is put in doubt
Rumours suggest Razer Phone 3 cancelled
Yes It Actually Folds
Samsung unveils first foldable phone Galaxy Fold
Unity also shown for new Galaxy S10
Redo
An underwhelming Q3 sees Square Enix streamline its business units
11 reduced to four, won’t result in any workforce reduction
$$$
Report: Tencent's 2018 was the firm's best ever for investments
122 of the 700-plus companies the Chinese tech and entertainment giant has invested in worth over $1bn
Game Freeze
China blocks new game approvals again as it strives to clear extensive backlog
As many as 5,000 games could be awaiting the greenlight
Rip Ps Vita
PlayStation Vita shipments to end soon in Japan confirming end for handheld
Vita Island is no more
Acquisition Strike
Japanese developer Mixi partners with XTech to accelerate M&A plans
Partnership could see expenditure of up to $271 million
Nexon-marble
Netmarble on Nexon acquisition: "With some leverage we could do the funding ourselves"
Been execs remain coy on exactly how a deal might be structured
Financials
Netmarble profit tumbles 72% year-on-year in Q4 due to slowing sales and lack of new releases
Publisher appears to be struggling to fill the hole from fading Lineage 2 and Harry Potter revenue
Mark Zuckerberg Likes This
Facebook top apps publisher for mobile downloads in Q4 2018
800 million downloads in three months
Slice Of The Pie
Com2uS acquires 51.9 per cent stake in South Korean developers Day7
Developer is known for story-based games
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Coin Master overtakes Candy Crush Saga in Great Britain and Ireland for top grossing
Charts from February 4th to February 10th
The Crowd Goes Wild
China officially recognises esports as a profession
Esports professional and operator roles recognised as of January 25th
The Saga Continues
Tencent joins Netmarble consortium in bid for Nexon
Deal could be made official as soon as February 21st
Human Stand Tall
Human: Fall Flat coming to mobile in China as 505 Games partners with X.D. Network
Going back to 505
From This Moment On
Amazon launches new reward scheme Amazon Moments
Tailor-made discounts
Maple
Maplestory M’s massive success is only part of Nexon’s record-setting financial results
Nexon’s highest full-year performance across both PC and Mobile made FY2018 one of the publisher’s strongest years to date
External Funding
Rovio looking to sell over 30 per cent of its stake in streaming service Hatch
To stream or not to stream that is the question
Let It Go
Disney collaborates with Kuato Studios for new storytelling app Disney Story Realms
The genie is out of the bottle
Keys To Success
How JoyPac delivered a top 10 success in China
China can be tough to break into, yet the right strategy can make it a reality
Switch's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake set for Nintendo Switch 2019 release
Classic gets new lick of paint
We're Serious
Nintendo reveals Tetris battle royale game for Nintendo Switch
...what?
Mario Maker
Nintendo reveals Super Mario Maker 2 for Nintendo Switch
Set to release in June 2019
We Like Ike
Fire Emblem Heroes has grossed over $500 million in two years
More than all other release for mobile combined
Report
Mobile grows while PC declines in NCSoft’s Q4 financial results
The Lineage M publisher’s financial results paint a mixed picture for the MMO publisher
New Clan
Supercell staffing up China game development studio
CEO Ilkka Paananen discusses his evolving vision for the company
Charts
Weekly global mobile games charts: Coin Master continues to dominate Great Britain and Ireland
Charts from January 28th to February 3rd