Joining The Band
Publishing giant Netmarble picks up stake in K-pop label Big Hit Entertainment for $190m
Becomes the second largest shareholder
Shrinking Marketplace
Google Play continues to grow while number of App Store releases shrinks for the first time
There were 755,000 titles released on iOS in 2017, a drop of 29 per cent
Co-op
Crunchyroll launches its first anime-based mobile game Memoria Freese in the West
Company has partnered with Gree and Sumitomo Corporation for release
Group Up
China’s Shanda Games invests $9.4 million in Kakao Games
Kakao Games received a $131.6 million investment from multiple investors in February
Esports Royale
World's top esports teams flock to Supercell's Clash Royale League
$1 million World Finals takes place at the end of the year
Big In China
How Mobvista's UA campaign for Marvel: Contest of Champions led to better conversions and engagement in China
NativeX's Joyce Ye deals out the advice
Stats Royale
NetEase’s Knives Out pulled in more than 50 million monthly active users in January
According to Newzoo, the battle royale genre may just have something going for it
Business News
ALAX signs blockchain games distribution deal with OEM Gionee
The deal will also see the ALAX app store available as an update for older Gionee phones
Coin Offering
South Korea's Reality Reflection launches ICO for AR game Mossland
Moss Coins can now be purchased
Skills Development
Google puts up 15,000 online scholarships for new and experienced African developers
10,000 of the scholarships will go to beginners while 5,000 will go to those with over one-year of experience
Crypto Korea
South Korean cryptocurrency operator Dunamu to invest $93 million in blockchain technology
Dunamu to spread investment over three years
Unleashed
Vungle launches global self-serve platform for advertisers
New platform gives advertisers access to its audience for video content
Fit For A King
Honor of Kings helps double Tencent profits to $3.4 billion last quarter
56 per cent of third-quarter growth came from the success of mobile titles such as Honor of Kings
Road To China
Ubisoft partners with Tencent to release games in China
Strategic partnership sees the French firm's titles move into the territory
Indie Publishing
Habby: We don’t believe in copying like other publishers
Start-up wants to help guide indies onto the global stage
Get Published
New mobile publisher Habby on the hunt for indie games
Profiling Habby - the hot new games publisher from Asia
Job News
QA and localisation firm Testronic journeys east to set up first office in Asia with new Bangkok set up
Lily Gavin-Allen to take charge of business development in the region
Playable Ads
How Synative’s streaming tech aims to fix mobile’s UA challenges through playables
How short game trials can grab new users
Good Gamee
Gamee teams up with Viber to bring social gaming to 1 billion users
The new partnership will see over 70 of Gamee’s titles brought to Viber’s 1 billion users
Glorious
Super Evil Megacorp partners with Alibaba to bring Vainglory to World Electronic Sports Games
MOBA joins the likes of Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Looking East
Flaregames sets its sights on solving China's publishing problems with Yeahmobi partnership
German publisher rebrands as it continues to expand its operations
Moving Day
Outsourcing specialist Virtuos eyes acquisitions after raising $15 million
The development studio also hopes to double in size over the next three years
Top Dogs
Mobile games spending one-third higher than on PC/Mac, handheld and console combined in 2017
Mobile gaming continues to grow thanks by and large to growth in Asia-Pacific territories
Big Moves
Lords Mobile generating up to $50 million a month
I Got Games also managed to snag $603 million in revenue for 2017
Breaking Japan
“The Japanese games market has come out from its closed-off period”
Yengage chief operating officer on the opportunities that await developers in Japan, and how to break in
Competitive Gaming
Alibaba backs non-violent video games at the Olympics
“In our communication with the Olympics committee, we’ve come to have a better understanding of their values, which is to promote peace"
Redundancies
Report: Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick lays off half its team
The number of employees laid off could push past 30 before the end of the week
Money Stream
Tencent pumps $632 million into Chinese online games streaming platform Douyu
Follows $462 million funding in rival Huya
Big Deal
Chinese games livestreaming service Huya picks up $462 million funding from Tencent ahead of IPO
Tencent has rights to up stake to controlling 50.1 per cent of shares
Copycraft
NetEase rushes to beat Epic’s Fortnite to the punch on mobile with FortCraft
This chicken dinner smells familiar
Another Milestone
Summoners War surpasses 90 million downloads
Com2us expects to hit 100 million downloads in the near future
Jobs News
FarmVille co-creator Mark Skaggs departs Indian developer Moonfrog Labs
Designer to return to the US and spend more time with his family
Get In
NetEase’s PUBG-like Knives Out reaps $24 million in February thanks to unexpected success in Japan
Japanese players contributed to 80 per cent of global sales outside of the Chinese Market
Tapped Out
Chinese online games portal TapTap shut down for three months as government cracks down on rule breakers
Tencent, 360, Xiaomi and more also slapped with fines
Fight Fight Fight
Mobile Legends is quietly out-grossing Arena of Valor in many countries
Tencent's MOBA mega-hit isn't winning everywhere
All The Marbles
Netmarble’s Lineage 2: Revolution generated $924 million in first 11 months
Seoul-based games publisher also looking to continue big Western push with more titles set for 2018
Quite Honorable
Tencent dangles extra Honor of Kings game time carrot to kids who get good grades
New in-game contracts will let children negotiate play time with their parents
Clash Of The Titans
Glu Mobile explores strategy genre with new soft-launched IP Titan World
Glu Mobile soft-launches new IP Titan World in the Philippines
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
The CEO of publishing giant Tencent is now the richest person in China
Tech mogul Ma Huateng also moved 23 places up the global rich list to 15th
Big Moves
Lineage 2 developer Netmarble names new CEO
South Korean-based developer Netmarble
Mobile Games Trends
Indonesia Snapshot: The largest mobile games market in Southeast Asia
Niko Partners Analyst Daniel Ahmad on what the charts tell us about the local games industry
Egged On
Kirby developer HAL Laboratory’s Part Time UFO touches down in the West
New mobile-focused studio HAL Egg's debut title is out now in the west
Gold Rush
What opportunities does India hold for social casino developers in 2018?
India is proving to be a promising new mobile market with its abundance of new phone owners and cheap data with this year set to be an especially eventful one for mobile devs in the region
Big Plays
New global mobile games publisher Finger Punch sets up shop in Singapore
Company plans to partner up with developers across the globe
Match-india
Zynga targets burgeoning Indian mobile games market with Rangoli Rekha: Color Match release
Match-three title heads out of soft launch
Chart Royale
Tencent’s PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield tops the mobile battle royale stakes in February
Tencent's Playerunkown's Battlegrounds duo make top five most downloaded for February
Pocket Rumble
Sony unveils Xperia XZ2 phone with built-in rumble and 4K HDR filming
4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage and oh so much more
Mobile Game Trends
China mobile game trends in H2 2017: Tencent and NetEase claim nine of top 10 mobile revenue generators
Niko Partners Analyst Daniel Ahmad on what the charts tell us about the local games industry
Iap Inspector
How does Rules of Survival monetise?
IAPs from the players' perspective
Awards Nominees
Lineage 2, Animal Crossing, Arena of Valor and more pick up IMGA Global nominations
Winners to be announced at ceremony in San Francisco on March 20th